Summary of changes in prior releases

Enhancements added in previous releases of QMF for z/OS®.

Enhancements applied to QMF 13.1 for z/OS

QMF for Workstation

Workstation configuration rollout simplification: QMF for Workstation configuration rollout related to Repository Connections and JDBC library has been simplified. You will be able to export these configuration and publish them to the QMF Server. All Workstations connected to the QMF Server will receive notification for the new configuration. You will easily be able to download the new configuration to the Workstation from the download option provided with the notification message. As an administrator user, you will be able to monitor the new configuration rollout from the user interface of the QMF Server. You can setup QMF Servers in a cluster for scalability and failover.
Tip of the day: Tip of the day increases user awareness for the QMF features. QMF presents relevant tips on the user interface based on the your activity. Tips presented are a combination of current feature being used and related features. You can enable or disable Tip of the day. If you need to know more about a specific feature, you may navigate to the Help content using the link provided in the Tips.
Support for time zone configuration for scheduled task: You can specify time zone for scheduling tasks. A drop-down is provided for selecting the time zone. The values in the drop-down are sorted by UTC time. You can search for a time zone by typing few characters in Time zone text box. Default value of time zone is set as per time zone of the operating system. You will be able to view the schedules as per your local time.
Support for MongoDB: QMF supports MongoDB as a read only database. You will be able to query MongoDB from QMF. QMF accesses MongoDB using MongoDB connector for BI. MongoDB connector for BI needs to be installed on the server where MongoDB is installed. QMF uses MySQL client to connect to the MongoDB Connector for BI. QMF establishes JDBC connection to MySQL.
Support for Cloud data sources - Amazon Redshift and Amazon Athena: You can connect to the Amazon Redshift and Amazon Athena data sources using JDBC connection from QMF for Workstation and QMF for WebSphere. All QMF objects are supported with Amazon Redshift and Amazon Athena.
Hybrid Cloud deployment support on IBM Cloud and Microsoft Azure: QMF supports Hybrid cloud deployment. You can deploy QMF on IBM cloud and Microsoft Azure and connect to on premises data sources. You can also deploy QMF on premise and connect to cloud data sources.
Support for Db2 13.1: QMF supports Db2 13.1 and long column name upto 128 bytes. QMF for Workstation supports CURRENT LOCK TIMEOUT special register.

QMF for WebSphere

Tip of the day: Tip of the day increases user awareness for the QMF features. QMF presents relevant tips on the user interface based on the your activity. Tips presented are a combination of current feature being used and related features. You can enable or disable Tip of the day. If you need to know more about a specific feature, you may navigate to the Help content using the link provided in the Tips.
Support for time zone configuration for scheduled task: You can specify time zone for scheduling tasks. A drop-down is provided for selecting the time zone. The values in the drop-down are sorted by UTC time. You can search for a time zone by typing few characters in Time zone text box. Default value of time zone is set as per time zone of the operating system. You will be able to view the schedules as per your local time.
Support for MongoDB: QMF supports MongoDB as a read only database. You will be able to query MongoDB from QMF. QMF accesses MongoDB using MongoDB connector for BI. MongoDB connector for BI needs to be installed on the server where MongoDB is installed. QMF uses MySQL client to connect to the MongoDB Connector for BI. QMF establishes JDBC connection to MySQL.
Support for Cloud data sources - Amazon Redshift and Amazon Athena: You can connect to the Amazon Redshift and Amazon Athena data sources using JDBC connection from QMF for Workstation and QMF for WebSphere. All QMF objects are supported with Amazon Redshift and Amazon Athena.
Hybrid Cloud deployment support on IBM Cloud and Microsoft Azure: QMF supports Hybrid cloud deployment. You can deploy QMF on IBM cloud and Microsoft Azure and connect to on premises data sources. You can also deploy QMF on premise and connect to cloud data sources.
Support for Db2 13.1: QMF supports Db2 13.1 and long column name upto 128 bytes. QMF for Workstation supports CURRENT LOCK TIMEOUT special register.

QMF Server

Tip of the day: Tip of the day increases user awareness for the QMF features. QMF presents relevant tips on the user interface based on the your activity. Tips presented are a combination of current feature being used and related features. You can enable or disable Tip of the day. If you need to know more about a specific feature, you may navigate to the Help content using the link provided in the Tips.
Hybrid Cloud deployment support on IBM Cloud and Microsoft Azure: QMF supports Hybrid cloud deployment. You can deploy QMF on IBM cloud and Microsoft Azure, and connect to on-premise data sources. You can also deploy QMF on premise and connect to the cloud data sources.

QMF for TSO and CICS

Support for Db2 13.1: QMF 13.1 supports Db2 13.1. All QMF objects will work with Db2 13.1. The CURRENT LOCK TIMEOUT special register introduced in Db2 13 can be set from within a QMF SQL query. This special register specifies the number of seconds to elapse before a resource timeout is detected.

Folder usability enhancements

The FOLDER keyword of the LIST command now has new parameter options - ALL and NONE. You can view and organize QMF objects.

The DESCRIBE Panel has been updated to show all the folder names currently assigned to the QMF object. The DESCRIBE command is run from an active list of the QMF objects.

New-function APARs for QMF for TSO and CICS

New capabilities are introduced in QMF for TSO and CICS Version 13 Release 1 through continuous delivery of APARs in a single service stream. For more information, see New-function APARs for QMF for TSO and CICS.

QMF Z Client

Support for Db2 13.1: QMF supports Db2 13.1 and long column name up to 128 bytes.

Enhanced Global Variable Support: Z Client supports new global variables for Column default and null indicator. New global variables supported are DSQCP_TEDFLT, DSQCP_TEDFLT_DBCS, DSQCP_TENULL and DSQCP_TENULL_DBCS. DSQCP_TEDFLT and DSQCP_TEDFLT_DBCS are used to specify default value for a column. DSQCP_TENULL and DSQCP_TENULL_DBCS to used to indicate null value in a column

Enhancements applied to QMF 12.2 for z/OS

QMF Server

Support for UTS: You can choose between Universal Table Space (UTS) and segmented (non-UTS) table spaces if your database is Db2 12 for z/OS FL 503 or less. You get the option to choose the table spaces while creating a catalog, a shared repository, or while exporting the query result set.

Jetty Server configuration changes

If required, you may configure standalone Jetty Server, by editing jetty.xml file. You can also enable SSL/TLS configuration.

If port 8080 on QMF Workstation is occupied by other application, then update to jetty.xml is required for the Visual Dashboards in QMF Workstations to load. For more information on configuring Jetty Server, see Installing QMF for Workstation.

Apache Tomcat 9.0 support for QMF for Websphere

Apache Tomcat 9.0 support for QMF for Websphere has been included in this release. QMF for Websphere can now be installed on Tomcat 9.0 web server.

QMF for Workstation

Enhanced operating system support: Workstation is supported on Windows Server 2019.

Jetty Server configuration changes

If required, you may configure standalone Jetty Server, by editing jetty.xml file. You can also enable SSL/TLS configuration.

New Search Functionality: QMF for Workstation allows you to search the QMF objects with a specific file name or content. This search operation is performed across multiple data sources within the connected repository. You can also search for the content of Visual Query and Procedures. QMF supports Wildcard search, Fuzzy search, and Proximity search.

Quick Report Header and Footer

The Quick Report allows you to format headers and footers. You can format and style header and footer using the following options:

Support for multi-line Header/Footer text.
Support for formatting Header/Footer text with the help of the Format Menu.
Support for inserting image as Logo in Header/Footer.
Option for adding custom styling to the Header/Footer.
Support for adding page numbers.

Collate support for Analytical Query: You can use collate option to enable case-sensitive or case-insensitive comparison while creating Analytical Queries. The collate option allows you to decide whether you want to compare in case sensitive or insensitive manner while creating analytical queries such as Union, Except, Join, Intersect, Crosstab, and Conditional Grouping.

Enhanced user experience in Normalize transform: The user interface for Normalize transform has been redesigned for a better user experience.

Simplified task scheduler: You can schedule a new task from the Repository Explorer with a reduced number of steps.

Support for UTS: You can choose between Universal Table Space (UTS) and segmented (non-UTS) table spaces if your database is Db2 12 for z/OS FL 503 or less. You get the option to choose the table spaces while creating a catalog, a shared repository, or while exporting the query result set.

Enhancement to the datadd function in Calculated Columns: The dateadd function provided with the calculated column is enhanced to add or subtract a day, month, or a year from any given date.

New icon for query settings for the result set: A new icon has been added on the toolbar for easy accessibility of the row limit and result set functionality. With this icon you can skip navigating from the menu, instead, use this icon to set row limit and resource limit for a result set.

Auto-generate column for table editor: QMF supports Auto-Generated and Calculated columns for table editor.

Enhanced operating system support: Workstation is supported on Windows 2016.

Viewing the index information of the tables: In QMF for Workstation, you can view the index information of the tables added to the Tables section of the Query Builder editor. To view the index information of the tables, you can click the Show Indexes button. To hide the index information, you can click the Hide Indexes button.

Saving Table Editor query objects: In QMF for Workstation, you can save the Table Editor query objects (SQL query along with the sorting and filtering options) for future use. You can save different types of row conditions and sorting options as multiple Table Editor query objects to enable you to conveniently reuse the different views in future. Additionally, when editing the records of a table, you can now navigate the previous and next records of the table using the Prev Row and Next Row buttons on the Edit Row window.

QMF for Workstation now supports the following transformations:

Union - to combine query results from two queries or tables into one query result set in such a way that the result set includes unique values from the queries or tables. That is, to exclude duplicate values, you can use the Union transformation.
Except - to combine query results from two queries or tables into one query result set in such a way that the result set includes all values from the first query or table and does not include any values from the second query or table. That is, to exclude all values from the second query or table, even if the values exist in the first query or table, you can use the Except transformation.
Intersect - to combine query results from two queries or tables into one query result set in such a way that the result set includes common values that exist in both the queries or tables. That is, to only include the values that exist in both the queries or tables, you can use the Intersect transformation.

Sorting query results

QMF for Workstation allows you to sort the query results on as many columns available in the table. Earlier, QMF for Websphere allowed you to sort the query results up to three columns only. With query results in the available window, select Results > Sort to sort the query results on as many desired columns as you choose.

Note: You can limit the number of columns that can be used to sort the query result using the DSQCP_SORT_COL_SUPPORTED global variable. You can set a desired value in this global variable or set 0 to allow sort on all columns.

Migrating from DataQuant to QMF for z/OS

If you are migrating from DataQuant to QMF for z/OS, it is easy to connect to the repository that was created in DataQuant. All your user data and user settings in the AppData/Roaming/IBM/DataQuant folder are automatically copied to the AppData/Roaming/IBM/QMF folder during the installation process.

Enhancements applied to QMF 12.1 for z/OS

QMF Classic Edition, QMF for z/OS, and QMF Enterprise Edition changes

QMF Classic Edition now consists of QMF for TSO and CICS®, QMF HPO and QMF Applications (QMF Enhanced Editor and QMF Analytics for TSO). QMF HPO and QMF Applications are new components to QMF Classic Edition. Also, QMF for z/OS and QMF Enterprise Edition now include the QMF Data Service component in the existing suite of QMF for Workstation/WebSphere, QMF for TSO and CICS, QMF HPO and QMF Applications.

Access to non DB2 data sources (VSAM, IMS, etc.)

Using the QMF Data Service feature, QMF for z/OS, and QMF Enterprise Edition, you can access non-Db2 data sources. These data sources include but are not limited to: VSAM, IMS, SMF data, and many more. Data is retrieved through QMF queries and can be formatted and manipulated in traditional QMF forms. For the complete list of data source access available, reference the QMF publications.

Report preview options

After proper setting of the DSQDC_DISPLAY_RPT global variable, you can enter a report mini-session, where queries can be run to view potential output without actually committing the results. The report mini-session can be useful for running and testing SELECT with change type queries. Upon exiting the report mini-session, you will be prompted to COMMIT or ROLLBACK the query.

Performance and storage improvements

This release of QMF includes the following performance and storage improvements:

Additional database thread capabilities using the new QMF program parameter option DSQSMTHD.
Increased fetch buffer size using the DSQEC_BUFFER_SIZE global variable.
Query By Example (QBE) and Prompted Query (PQ) enhanced by adding support for the TABLE keyword when specified on the RUN QUERY command.
Binary data formatting improved with the QMF FORM now allowing the 'C' edit code for binary column data.

QMF serviceability

The global variable DSQEC_TRACE_MODULE allows administrators to limit the amount of QMF tracing diagnostics by QMF module name. The global variable allows up to six module names to be specified.

Enhanced Editor for ISPF Editor Users

Assist function extended to work with procedures as well as queries, and now also provides new types of assistance:

Information: about a keyword or SQL identifier, such as the structure of a table or syntax of a command.
Alternatives: selecting a table name to replace it with another table belonging to that owner, or selecting an SQL keyword shows other keywords of a similar type.

More screen space is available for editing queries and procedures, while still maintaining the ability to see a preview of your query results including the ability to drill down on a preview row displaying it vertically. With an integrated list capability, you can also quickly browse your QMF objects and data tables including drilling down to individual row values.

With better adherence to ISPF Editor conventions, ISPF users can adhere to ISPF standards when editing QMF objects. You can customize function keys to your own preferences using ISPF KEYS; navigate query previews and object lists using standard ISPF lists; and work with your QMF objects and data in a style more compatible with the ISPF Editor.

QMF version display

The QMF version is no longer displayed in the home panel. The current QMF version now displays in the help panel.

Enhancements applied to QMF version 11.2 for z/OS Fix Pack 2

Ability to publish objects to QMF Vision: QMF provides the ability to publish objects to the QMF Vision Objects folder and use them in dashboards and presentations in QMF Vision.
Support for QMF Data Service data sources: QMF provides the ability to create QMF Data Service data sources and access the tables that are stored on the QMF Data Service server.
Bulk change of user credentials in scheduled tasks: QMF provides the ability to change passwords for all repositories, repository connections, or data sources that are associated with the same user in a scheduled task.
Enhanced work with visual dashboards and reports: QMF provides the ability to adding objects to the visual project by dragging the source query from the Repository Explorer tree to the editor area of the visual project.
Web API for QMF for WebSphere: Web API for QMF for WebSphere provides a set of commands and tools for a third-party application to work with a repository. Use Web API to explore the tree of objects and data sources, run queries and procedures, and view result sets.

Enhancements applied to QMF 11.2 for z/OS Fix Pack 1

Improved appearance preferences: QMF provides the ability to define the font type and font size not only for headings and columns of query results and classic reports, but also for SQL and procedure editors.
Batch Job Runner Exit Value: QMF notifies about the task status. If the task is completed successfully, the return code is 0. If the task fails, the return code is other than 0.
Improved Query Builder Editor: Users can add tables or columns from Repository Explorer by dragging them to the Tables or Fields sections.
Enhanced import of row condition from a file: QMF allows adding row conditions from a file of any format with the values that are separated by commas.

Enhancements applied to QMF 11.2 for z/OS

Enhanced QMF catalog structure

QMF provides the ability to group objects in folders by creating links to them in QMF Catalog. Copy, paste, or remove folders and links to objects in them to organize the work with objects in a convenient way.

Enhanced procedures

The RUN QUERY command provides the ability to save query results to a database.
The RUN QUERY and IMPORT TABLE commands support the SPACE parameter that specifies the database and table space to that you want to save data.

Virtual tables

QMF provides the ability to create virtual tables for processing the collected data in the form of relational tables in virtual data sources. By using these tables users can edit the metadata in a convenient way, specify cache expiration schedules, and work with calculated columns.

Enhanced work with queries

QMF provides the ability to run queries and other objects by clicking the Results tab for the first time.
Enhanced Query Builder provides the ability to view the available ER diagrams from the specified data source and add or remove fields on the Build tab.

New Results View

Users can transform the Results tab into the editing view to see the processed results dynamically when they edit an application object.