Viewing documentation offline

You can download product documentation that is shown online to your computer and view it offline.

Before you begin

Find and download the product documentation that you want to view. WebSphere® Application Server documentation is available from a download server. Version 9.0.x documentation is in the v90 directory, https://public.dhe.ibm.com/software/webserver/appserv/library/v90/.

Documentation for other WebSphere Application Server versions and products is also available on the server in other directories.

The server also supports FTP and FTPS, for example ftp://public.dhe.ibm.com/software/webserver/appserv/library/. Instead of downloading files from a browser, you can download files with FTP download software.

About this task

For documentation in PDF format, you can view the file in a PDF reader.

For documentation in HTML files that are stored in compressed (.zip or .jar) files, you can view downloaded documentation in several ways:

  • View individual HTML files in a browser.

    You can download product documentation from the server, extract the downloaded compressed ZIP or JAR file, and view the HTML files individually.

    Tip: Documentation files with a .jar extension such as com.ibm.websphere.base.doc_9.0.0.jar are ZIP files with a .jar extension. You can use an unzip utility to extract the .jar file contents to directly access and view the HTML files. Or change the .jar extension to .zip to access the HTML files without extracting the compressed file contents.

    Some product documentation files contain site maps or table of contents. For example, the com.ibm.websphere.express.doc_7.0.0.zip file has a site map in the htmlnav.html file in its doc.zip file. After you extract the doc.zip file contents, you can view the htmlnav.html file in a browser to see the Express 7.0 documentation table of contents and link to individual HTML files.

  • View all HTML files for product documentation in Eclipse or in WebSphere Developer Tools for Eclipse.
  • View all HTML files for product documentation in IBM Knowledge Center Customer Installed (KCCI).

    KCCI is a web application archive (WAR file) that runs on a Liberty or WebSphere Application Server server. For this option, you must have a license for Liberty or WebSphere Application Server to get the KCCI WAR file and you must deploy the KCCI WAR file to a server.

  • View all HTML files for product documentation in Knowledge Center for z/OS if you have z/OS 2.2 or later.

View documentation locally in Eclipse or WebSphere Developer Tools

To view WebSphere Application Server Version 9.0.0 and Liberty documentation, you can use recent releases of Eclipse or WebSphere Developer Tools. The procedure describes how to display documentation with Eclipse for Java EE Developers (Oxygen) on Windows. To view Version 8.5.5 and earlier documentation, you might need to use Eclipse Classic.

Procedure

  1. Install Eclipse or WebSphere Developer Tools for Eclipse. You can get Eclipse from the Eclipse downloads page. You can view documentation locally with either Eclipse or WebSphere Developer Tools.
    For example, complete the following steps to install Eclipse for Java EE Developers (Oxygen) on Windows.
    1. Download an Eclipse IDE to a temporary directory on your computer. The IDE has a name such as eclipse-jee-oxygen-2-win32-x86_64.zip.
    2. Create two directories on your computer, eclipse_oxygen and eclipse_workspace.
    3. Install Eclipse Oxygen to C:\eclipse_oxygen. Extract the IDE eclipse-jee-oxygen-2-win32-x86_64.zip file into the C:\eclipse_oxygen directory.
  2. Install Java SDK 8 on your computer.
    Tip: If your computer has a WebSphere Application Server Version 9.0 or Version 8.5.5 installation, you likely have Java SDK 8 installed. Those products use Java SDK 8. For example, the Java SDK 8 installation on Windows is IBM 64-bit SDK for Windows, Java Technology Edition, Version 8. If you already have a Java SDK 8 installation, write down the path to the javaw.exe file.

    The following pages have IBM Java SDK 8 downloads or installation instructions:

  3. If you downloaded from the server a ZIP file that contains several documentation ZIP, JAR, or directories, extract that downloaded ZIP file into a temporary directory. The extracted ZIP, JAR, or directories are plugins.

    For example, the com.ibm.websphere.base.doc.zip file on the server v90 directory contains mainly .jar files. The com.ibm.websphere.base.doc_9.0.0.jar file is the English WebSphere Application Server Version 9.0 documentation plugin. The com.ibm.websphere.base.doc.nl1_9.0.0.jar is the national language, or translated, WebSphere Application Server Version 9.0 documentation plug-in. These plug-ins were used for a previous version of the documentation at https://www.ibm.com/docs/SSEQTP_9.0.5. The other extracted files provide Javadoc, glossary, OSGi, messages, installation, migration, WIM, and Service Mapping (SM) documentation plugins.

    The names of the plugins are similar to what you see in online documentation URLs. For example, the WebSphere Application Server Javadoc at https://www.ibm.com/docs/SSEQTP_9.0.5/com.ibm.websphere.javadoc.doc/web/apidocs/overview-summary.html is in the com.ibm.websphere.javadoc.doc_9.0.0.jar file and its plugin name is com.ibm.websphere.javadoc.doc.

  4. Copy the extracted plugins that you want to view into the eclipse\plugins directory of your Eclipse or WebSphere Developer Tools installation.

    For example, copy com.ibm.websphere.base.doc_9.0.0.jar to C:\eclipse_oxygen\eclipse\plugins. At minimum, you need to copy the English com.ibm.websphere.base.doc_9.0.0.jar plugin to the eclipse\plugins directory.

    For translations, you also need com.ibm.websphere.base.doc.nl1_9.0.0.jar. If you want to view the Javadoc, glossary, OSGi, messages, installation, migration, WIM, and Service Mapping (SM) documentation, also copy the other plugins in com.ibm.websphere.base.doc.zip to the eclipse\plugins directory.

    You do not need the .properties files for Eclipse or WebSphere Developer Tools. Do not copy the .properties to the eclipse\plugins directory. The .properties files are for KCCI.

  5. Start Eclipse or WebSphere Developer Tools.

    For example, if IBM SDK for Java 8.0.5.10 is installed in c:\jdk_80510, you can run Eclipse Oxygen with that Java 8 and the -clean option from a command line.

    1. Open a command line and move to the Eclipse installation directory. 
      cd C:\eclipse_oxygen\eclipse
    2. From a command line at the Eclipse installation directory, start Eclipse with the -vm and -clean options. 
      eclipse -vm c:\jdk_80510\jre\bin\javaw.exe -clean
  6. When Eclipse starts, select the workspace to use and then click Launch.

    For example, select C:\eclipse_oxygen_workspace or whatever directory that you made for the workspace. Then, click Launch.

  7. In Eclipse, click Help > Help Contents. The documentation that you copied to the eclipse\plugins directory is shown in the contents.

    For example, WebSphere Application Server (Distributed and IBM i), Version 9.0 under Contents is the com.ibm.websphere.base.doc_9.0.0.jar plugin.

    Documentation in Eclipse
  8. To view the documentation in a browser, right-click a file in the documentation under Contents and select to open in a new window.

    For example, right-click WebSphere Application Server (Distributed and IBM i), Version 9.0 > Open in new window.

    If the Eclipse installation is running on a server that other people can access, you can send them the browser URL so that they also can view the documentation.

    To view a translation, add &lang=** or ?lang=** to the end of the URL and press Enter. For example, to view French, use &lang=fr or ?lang=fr. See the Eclipse documentation for specifics on how to view translations.

    If the translation doesn't display in the Eclipse help, use command files to open and close the documentation.

    1. Locate the org.eclipse.help.base_N.N.N.vNNN.jar file within the C:\eclipse_oxygen\eclipse\plugins directory where N.N.N.vNNN refers to the Eclipse version that you downloaded. For Eclipse Oxygen, the file name is org.eclipse.help.base_4.2.102.v20171130-0510.jar.
    2. In the C:\eclipse_oxygen directory, create a file and name it ic_start.cmd. With a text editor, add the following command to the file. Ensure that the -classpath value specifies the path to the org.eclipse.help.base_N.N.N.vNNN.jar file in your installation. Also, specify the listener port for Eclipse. In this example, the port number is 8680.
      java -classpath eclipse\plugins\org.eclipse.help.base_4.2.102.v20171130-0510.jar  org.eclipse.help.standalone.Infocenter -eclipsehome eclipse -port 8680 -command start -noexec -clean
    3. In the C:\eclipse_oxygen directory, create a file and name it ic_stop.cmd. With a text editor, add the following command to the file. Ensure that the -classpath value specifies the path to the org.eclipse.help.base_N.N.N.vNNN.jar file in your installation. 
      java -classpath eclipse\plugins\org.eclipse.help.base_4.2.102.v20171130-0510.jar  org.eclipse.help.standalone.Infocenter -eclipsehome eclipse -command shutdown
    4. Run the ic_start.cmd file by double-clicking the file name or run the command from a command line. A command window opens and stays open until you run the ic_stop.cmd file.
    5. When the ic_start.cmd file is running, point your browser to http://localhost:port_number/help/index.jsp to start the documentation on your computer. In this example, the URL is: http://localhost:8680/help/index.jsp
    6. To view a translation, specify a language parameter in the URL.
      1. Select a topic within the documentation you want to view.
      2. Right-click on that topic and select to open the link in a new window or tab. The URL for the new window or tab points to a specific documentation topic.
      3. Add &lang=** or ?lang=** to the end of the URL and press Enter. For example, to view French in Eclipse Oxygen, add &lang=fr to the end of the topic URL and press Enter.
      French documentation in Eclipse

    You can search the documentation. Type a search string in the Search field and click Go. The first time that you search, the indexing takes several minutes to complete. After indexing, searches typically finish within seconds.

Viewing older documentation with Eclipse Classic

If the WebSphere Application Server Version 8.5.5 and earlier documentation is not displaying in your Eclipse installation, consider installing the Eclipse Classic version. Eclipse Classic is the last Eclipse version to provide the Integrated Eclipse Help System (IEHS).

  1. Download Eclipse Classic 4.2.2 (Juno). This example uses the Windows 64-bit file.
  2. Create the c:\eclipse_classic_422 directory and extract the downloaded eclipse-SDK-4.2.2-win32-x86_64.zip file to the directory.
  3. Create the c:\eclipse_classic_juno_workspace directory.
  4. Download documentation files from the server. Put the documentation plugins in the c:\eclipse_classic_422\eclipse\plugins directory. Do not put the .properties files in the eclipse\plugins directory. For more information, see steps about plugins and copying files to the eclipse\plugins directory.
  5. Open a command window and move to the c:\eclipse_classic_422 directory\eclipse directory.
  6. At a command line, run a command that uses a JDK needed for Eclipse Classic. For this example, the JDK in the c:\jdk directory is IBM 64-bit SDK for Windows AMD64/EM64T architecture, Java Technology Edition, Version 6.
    eclipse -vm c:\jdk\jre\bin\javaw.exe -clean
  7. Select to use the c:\eclipse_classic_juno_workspace directory for the workspace.
  8. In Eclipse, select Help > Help Contents.
  9. To view a translation, add &lang=** to the end of the URL and press Enter. For example, to view French, use &lang=fr.

    The national language (nl) or translated plugin for the documentation must be in the eclipse\plugins directory along with the English plugin.

View documentation locally in Knowledge Center for z/OS

Procedure

  1. Configure Knowledge Center for z/OS.
  2. Create a subdirectory of /global/kc4z/data/content for the WebSphere Application Server documentation. For example, for the WebSphere Application Server for z/OS Version 9.0 documentation, create the /global/kc4z/data/content/waszos900 directory. For more information, see Managing product documentation content in Knowledge Center for z/OS.
  3. Download the documentation that you want to view from the server. The downloadable ZIP files contain several documentation ZIP, JAR, or directories. Extract that downloaded ZIP file into the /global/kc4z/data/content subdirectory that you created. The extracted ZIP, JAR, or directories are plugins.

    For example, extract the contents of com.ibm.websphere.zseries.doc.zip file on the server v90 directory at https://public.dhe.ibm.com/software/webserver/appserv/library/v90/ into the /global/kc4z/data/content/waszos900 directory.

    The com.ibm.websphere.zseries.doc.zip file contains mainly .jar files. The com.ibm.websphere.zseries.doc_9.0.0.jar file is the English WebSphere Application Server for z/OS Version 9.0 documentation plugin. The com.ibm.websphere.zseries.doc.nl1_9.0.0.jar is the national language, or translated, WebSphere Application Server for z/OS Version 9.0 documentation plugin. These plugins were used for a previous version of the documentation at https://www.ibm.com/docs/SS7K4U_9.0.5. The other extracted files provide Javadoc, glossary, OSGi, messages, installation, migration, WIM, and Service Mapping (SM) documentation plugins.

    The names of the plugins are similar to what you see in online documentation URLs. For example, the WebSphere Application Server Javadoc at https://www.ibm.com/docs/SS7K4U_9.0.5/com.ibm.websphere.javadoc.doc/web/apidocs/overview-summary.html is in the com.ibm.websphere.javadoc.doc_9.0.0.jar file and its plugin name is com.ibm.websphere.javadoc.doc.

  4. Configure the .properties file for your documentation. Put the .properties file into the /global/kc4z/data/content directory. See Managing product documentation content in Knowledge Center for z/OS.

    The com.ibm.websphere.zseries.doc.zip file contains 2 .properties files that you can edit and use for Knowledge Center for z/OS. The easier .properties file to use is no_ditamap.properties. For WebSphere Application Server for z/OS Version 9.0 documentation, set the product value to SS7K4U_9.0.0 and the path value to the directory that contains the plugins, /global/kc4z/data/content/waszos900.

    Tip: You can put plugins for all WebSphere Application Server documentation in the /global/kc4z/data/content/waszos900 directory and use the no_ditamap.properties file to view documentation for many products.

    The other properties file, SS7K4U_9.0.0.properties, requires that the /global/kc4z/data/content/waszos900 directory contain an as_ditamaps subdirectory that provides product .ditamap files. You can get the files for the as_ditamaps subdirectory from the 900_WAS_as_ditamaps.zip file or from the 900_WAS_all_product_doc.zip file on the server. Ensure the SS7K4U_9.0.0.properties file sets the path value to the directory that contains the plugins. The toc value is already set to the master map.

  5. Configure the KC_taxonomy.ditamap for your documentation. See Managing product documentation content in Knowledge Center for z/OS.

    Ensure that the KC_taxonomy.ditamap contains a subjectdef element for SS7K4U_9.0.0. The 900_WAS_properties_files.zip file in the server v90 directory has a KC_taxonomy.ditamap file with subjectdef elements for all WebSphere Application Server products.

  6. Stop and restart the Knowledge Center for z/OS server.
  7. Point a web browser at the http://host_name:9080/zos/knowledgecenter/ URL.