Exploring z/OS using Zowe Explorer in Wazi Developer for Workspaces

Complete the following steps to set up Zowe Explorer to explorer z/OS resources.

1. Open the Zowe view in Wazi Developer for Workspaces Workspace, and click the + icon in the DATA SETS view at the upper left.

2. You can either choose an existing profile that you created by using Zowe CLI in the command line or create a new profile in Zowe Explorer's UI.

   To create a new profile in the UI, select Create a New Connection to z/OS. A series of follow-up prompts will ask you for all your connection details.

   • Specify any name for your connection.

   • For the z/OSMF url, use the IP that you used for the 3270 connection above and the port 10443 for the Master the Mainframe machines. For example, https://192.86.32.91:10443. The default port for z/OSMF is normally 443.

   • For the question about rejecting connections with self-signed certificates, select false for the Master the Mainframe systems.

3. Now an entry appears in the Data Sets tree. You can use the Search icon next to that entry to enter your username to find the ISPF.ISPPROF data set. You can use the other action icon to create a new data set.

4. To add the same connection to the USS or JOBS view, click the + icon next to the view's header, and then select that connection from the drop-down list.

5. Set the folder for Zowe Explorer to store temporary files that are loaded from z/OS.

   As your Wazi Developer for Workspaces consist of many different containers that have been linked together, you need to tell Zowe Explorer where it can store temporary files that are loaded from z/OS. It will use that folder to keep the downloaded files for the editor to perform open, write, and save operations. To set a folder, take these steps:

   1. Open the menu File > Settings > Open Preferences. The Preferences editor window is open and shows User and Workspace specific settings.

      Note: In this case, the word Workspace means a different thing than Wazi Developer for Workspaces Workspace. This is an inconsistency between Che and the editor that is used by Wazi Client Eclipse Theia. In this case, workspace refers to the directory in which your project files are stored.

   2. Select the User tab, and add the following JSON object to the User settings.

      "Zowe-Temp-Folder-Location": {
         "folderPath": "/projects"
      }

      The editor is saved automatically. Make sure that the JSON does not have any syntax errors and then close it.

Now you can create and save files in USS.

Fig. 1: Using Zowe Explorer to access z/OS resources such as COBOL programs in MVS data sets from IBM® Wazi Developer for Workspaces