Creating and editing property groups

Creating a property group

1. From the Property Group Manager view, select a system, open the menu and click New Property Group. The Property Group Editor opens. This editor contains a series of tabs that open each page of the editor.
2. Type a name and description for the new property group. For example, to create a property group that contains property values for debugging COBOL programs, you might type DebugCOBOL for the name and Properties for debugging COBOL programs for the description.
3. For remote property groups, you can define several property group values on the Property Group Information page. These settings include the properties that are required to resolve dependencies when you edit a file. All of these settings are also available on other property group pages, but are placed on the Property Group Information page for quick access.
   • Application language: Choose COBOL, PL/I, or Any. The default value is COBOL. This field controls the other fields that are displayed on this page: some fields apply to COBOL files and some to PL/I files. If you choose Any, no additional fields are displayed on this page. If you clear the COBOL Settings or PL/I Settings checkbox on the Categories page, then the corresponding language is removed from this list.
   • SYSLIB: Specify libraries for resolving copybooks or include files. To add a library to this list, click Add. To reorder the list, click the Up and Down buttons. To delete a library from the list, select it and click Remove.
   • Additional JCL: Specify your own JCL, such as additional data definitions (DD cards). The contents of this field are echoed at the end of the compilation step. You must specify syntactically correct JCL.
   • Set local preprocessor options: Opens the Local Preprocessor page of COBOL Settings or PL/I Settings. For more information about using local preprocessors, see the related topics.
   • Set remote preprocessor options: Opens the Editor Configurations page of COBOL Settings or PL/I Settings. For more information about using remote preprocessors, see the related topics.
4. Click the Categories tab and select the checkboxes beside the categories for which you want to enter values for the property group.
5. Select each property category tab to open the property page for that category.
6. On each property category page, specify property values to be included in the property group.
   • For fields that take partitioned data sets as their values, you can drag a partitioned data set name from the Remote Systems view, z/OS Projects view, or Remote z/OS Search results view and drop it in the field. To change the order of partitioned data set names in a field, place the cursor in the field and click Change Order from the menu. The property group editor checks that the value in a data set field is valid:
     • The system for the data set is compared to the system for the property group. If the system for the data set is different, an error message is displayed.
     • The property group editor verifies that the value is an MVS data set rather than a partitioned data set member, z/OS® UNIX System Services file, or local file.
     • If multiple data sets are dropped in a field that accepts only one data set, an error message is displayed.
   • Click Check Data Sets or Check Remote Location to check that data sets or folders that are specified in the step options fields exist on the remote system.
     Note: If a data set name contains the <HLQ> variable substitution, Check Data Sets and Check Remote Location cannot validate the data set name.
7. When you close the Property Group Editor, a window prompts you to save your changes. The name and description are displayed in the Property Group Manager view. If you do not save your changes, the property group is not created.

Editing a property group

When you edit a property group, you can select new or different property categories for the group or change property values in the group. This action is a good way to propagate property changes across multiple projects, subprojects, or data sets because it allows for making a property change in one place and having it take effect for all resources that are associated with the property group.

• From the Property Group Manager view, double-click a property group name or select a property group to edit and then select Edit from the menu.
• From the Remote Systems view or the z/OS Projects view, select one of the following resources and then select Property Group > Edit Associated Property Group from the menu:
  • The MVS Files node
  • An MVS subproject
  • A data set or data set member
  • A local COBOL, PL/I, or Assembler project, directory, or file
  This menu item is available only if a property group is associated with the selected resource.

Copying a property group

1. From the Property Group Manager view, select a property group to copy and then select Copy from the menu.The Copy Property Group window opens. The System field on this window shows the system for which the property group is being created. You can copy property groups only within the same system.
2. Type a name for the new property group and click OK. The default name for a copy is Copy of PropertyGroup. If another property group is already using the name that you enter, a message is displayed and OK is disabled.
3. If you want to change the property categories or values for the new property group, select it in the Property Group Manager and click Edit. The Property Group Editor opens.