Setting up a workspace for COBOL development

Roadmap

Use this roadmap to navigate the tasks you must complete to set up a COBOL development environment. Each step in this list links to another section of this topic. Use the Back to top links to return to this roadmap. All links to other topics open in a new browser tab to make it easier for you to return to this topic after completing each task.

  1. Verify installed components.
  2. Set up access to your source files.
  3. Set up a property group.
  4. Create a z/OS® project.
  5. Set up the editor.

Verify installed components

If your source files are located in a Git repository, a Jazz® repository, or on z/OS under control of the CA Endevor source control manager, verify that the features necessary for accessing these repositories are installed with the product.

To see which product features are installed:
  1. Start the product.
  2. Click Help > About IBM Developer for z/OS.
  3. Click Installation Details.
  4. If you want to filter the list of installed software to more easily find the components you are interested in, type a string, such as DBB, Endevor, or Git, into the text field.

For instructions on adding features to the product, see Adding or removing installed features.

This table lists the product features needed to access each repository.
Table 1. Features required for repository access
To access source files on: Verify installation of:
A Git repository
  • Git integration for Eclipse (or EGit on macOS)
  • DBBz Integration Feature, if your site uses IBM® Dependency Based Build
A Jazz repository
  • IBM Engineering Workflow Management Client Extension for Eclipse 4.x
  • IBM Engineering Workflow Management Integration for z/OS
A z/OS system under CA Endevor source control CA Endevor SCM Feature

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Set up access to your source files

The product provides access to source files in several locations:
  • On a z/OS system
  • In a Git repository
  • In a Jazz repository
  • On a z/OS system under CA Endevor source control
Use this table to link to instructions for setting up access to each source file environment.
Table 2. Accessing source files
To access source files on: Do these steps: For more information:
A z/OS system
  1. Obtain the remote system host name and port number.
  2. Define a remote connection.
  3. Connect to the remote system.
  4. Define filters for your data sets.
  1. Ask your z/OS system administrator.
  2. Creating a connection to a z/OS system.
  3. Connecting to a remote system.
  4. Creating a filter for MVS™ Files
A Git repository Clone a remote Git repository or add a local repository to the Git Repository view. See these topics:
A Jazz repository
  1. Install the IBM Engineering Workflow Management Client Extension for Eclipse 4.x and the IBM Engineering Workflow Management Integration for z/OS.
  2. Connect to the z/OS system where the Jazz repository is.
  3. Load and share Jazz artifacts.
  1. Installing the Developer for z/OS and Engineering Workflow Management integration
  2. Connecting to the z/OS system.
  3. Working with Jazz artifacts in z/OS projects
A z/OS system under CA Endevor source control
  1. Obtain the remote system host name and port number.
  2. Define a remote connection.
  3. Open the CARMA Repositories view.
  4. Right-click the remote system name and click Connect.
  5. Create a filter for the CA Endevor repository to display only the elements you want to see.
  1. Ask your z/OS system administrator.
  2. Creating a connection to a z/OS system
  3. Opening the Repositories view
  4. Connecting to CA Endevor Software Change Manager (SCM) RAM
  5. Content views

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Set up a property group

Property groups provide a central location for settings that the product uses for several functions. Some common tasks in the development of COBOL applications use property group settings:
  • Editing source files
  • Generating JCL
  • Compiling source code
  • Running applications
Property groups support other functions as well, such as unit testing, debug, and code coverage, but this section describes property group settings for editing, compilation, and runtime.
To set up a property group for COBOL application development:
  1. Create a property group.
  2. Define options for editing, compilation, and runtime.
  3. Associate the property group with the COBOL resources.

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Create a z/OS project

Although you can work with your source files directly in an MVS file system, Git repository, or Jazz repository, adding them to a z/OS project has several benefits:
  • You can include in the project only the exact resources you need.
  • z/OS projects are enabled for a number of product features, such as integration with EGit, IBM Dependency Based Build, Engineering Workflow Management, and Z Systems Development and Test Environment.
  • z/OS projects are shareable either through export and import or through the push-to-client feature.

The product provides several methods for creating z/OS projects depending on where your source files are located.

Table 3. Creating a z/OS project
For files on: Do these steps: For more information:
A z/OS system
  1. In the z/OS Projects view, click Create a z/OS project or right-click and select New > z/OS Project.
  2. In the New z/OS Project wizard, choose the option to Create an MVS subproject.
  1. Creating a z/OS project.
  2. Creating an MVS subproject.
A Git repository In the Git Repositories view, right-click a repository and click Create a z/OS Project.The Git repository is added to the z/OS Projects view. Creating a z/OS project from a local Git repository
A Jazz repository
  1. In the Remote Systems view, create a connection to a z/OS system and log in using your z/OS user ID and password.
  2. In the Team Artifacts view:
    1. Create a Jazz repository connection and log in using the same user ID with which you connected to the z/OS system.
    2. Connect to a project area.
    3. Create a repository workspace and load artifacts from the connected project area.
 Adding Jazz repository artifacts to a z/OS project

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Set up the editors

The default editor for COBOL files is the COBOL Eclipse-based editor. The Preferences window contains several pages for setting options for editor functions:

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