Opening a declaration

Use the Open Declaration action in the editor to open the reference to a declared structure in your program. The selected reference must be a valid reference to a structure.

Before you begin

Copybooks: To set the default action for Open Declaration on copybook files, open the Preferences window and navigate to Remote Systems > z/OS > MVS Files. On the MVS Files preference page, select an action for the Default action for opening copybooks preference. You can choose one of these actions:
  • Open: Opens the file in edit mode.
  • View: Opens the file in edit mode, but does not lock the file.
  • Browse: Opens the file in read-only mode.
JCL Editor: To open declarations in JCL files that are open in the JCL Editor:
  • You must be connected to a remote z/OS® system and open a file on the MVS Files subsystem.
  • To open a declaration for the PROC parameter value of EXEC statements, you must associate a property group with the JCL file. In the property group, specify the JCL procedure libraries in the Include and procedure search libraries field of the JCL Job Card and Data Set page.

About this task

The Open Declaration action is available for the following elements in each editor.
Table 1. Elements for which Open Declaration is available
Editor Selected Element
COBOL Editor and z Systems® LPEX Editor on COBOL files A function, field, or paragraph name
JCL Editor and z Systems LPEX Editor on JCL files A PROC parameter value of an EXEC statement, a data set name, or a qualified data set member name
PL/I Editor and z Systems LPEX Editor on PL/I files A variable, method, field, or paragraph name

Procedure

  1. In the editor, highlight the reference for which you want to locate the declaration.
  2. To open the declaration, do one of the following actions:
    • Press F3.
    • Right-click and select Open Declaration.
    • From the menu bar, select Navigate > Open Declaration.
    If the declaration is in the same file as the reference, then the cursor is moved to the declaration statement. If the declaration is in a folded region, then the region is unfolded. If the declaration is in another file and the location of the file that contains the reference can be determined, then the source file is opened.
  3. Hovering the cursor over a variable or procedure causes hover information to display details about the highlighted element. Hovering the cursor over this hover information causes a toolbar to be displayed. The toolbar contains a toolbar button for opening the declaration of the hovered element.