Activating advanced capabilities

Z Open Editor's advanced capabilities require activation when the 90-day trial period ends. Currently, you can activate a permanent license key in two ways:

1. Automatic activation using an RSE API server.
2. Manual activation by importing an activation kit.

The IBM Z Open Editor Welcome page is used to report on the status of the trial license, the status of the automatic activation, as well as provides the means to import a manual activation kit. If the Welcome page does not open automatically at startup or you have already closed it, you can open it by entering cmd/ctrl-shift-p and typing or selecting IBM Z Open Editor: Welcome.

In the "Advanced capabilities" section of the Welcome page, you find two expandable sections:

• Available Features: Displays the advanced features currently enabled. A checkmark icon indicates that the feature is active. A lock icon means the trial period has expired for that feature or the imported license does not cover it.
• Activation Status: Shows the license activation currently in use. If you are using a trial license, it displays the expiration date. If you have activated through automatic or manual activation kits, it shows the type of license currently enabled.

Automatic activation

Automatic activation uses the same technology as other development clients for IBM Developer for z/OS Enterprise Edition. It is not available to customers of IBM Developer for z/OS Select. This method is ideal for organizations that run IBM Remote Systems Explorer (RSE) and enable their developers to choose between Eclipse and VS Code as their development clients. A system programmer provisioning RSE installs activation tokens, which the editors retrieve automatically when they connect to RSE.

To enable activation tokens via RSE API on z/OS, the z/OS administrator needs to complete the following steps:

1. Install and complete basic configuration of z/OS host component IBM z/OS Explorer Extensions, FMID HHOPxxx. For more information, see Installing and configuring the host components.
2. Install and complete basic configuration of z/OS host component IBM Remote System Explorer API (RSE API), FMID HAMAxxx.
3. Make sure z/OS Explorer knows where to find z/OS Explorer Extensions. Depending on where z/OS Explorer Extensions was installed, this detection is automatic, or done via an environment variable in the configuration file rse.env.
4. Allow z/OS Explorer Extensions to register as ADFz or IDzEE. For more information, see Product enablement in IFAPRDxx.
5. Allow z/OS Explorer Extensions to write SM122 records to track that it provided an activation token.

You can find more detailed instruction in the documentation for system programmers, such as in IBM Shopz.

The Z Open Editor end users can then use the VS Code user setting zopeneditor.advancedCapabilities.enableRseApiActivationCheck to enable the automatic RSE check. The Z Open Editor Welcome page also provides a convenient check box to enable these settings.

Once enabled, the next time you connect to the RSE API server via Zowe Explorer or Z Open Editor, an automatic check for activation will be executed. If successful, the Z Open Editor Welcome page will report the activation status in a table.

Notes:

• Host component IBM Explorer for z/OS, FMID HALGxxx, is a prerequisite for both IBM z/OS Explorer Extensions and IBM Remote System Explorer API (RSE API).
• You can use the Host Configuration Assistant at https://zdev-hca.ibm.com to guide you through the required host configuration.
• The provided activation tokens operate for a limited time. However, activation tokens are automatically renewed each time the client connects to the z/OS host.

Manual activation

If your organization uses z/OSMF instead of the RSE API, or has purchased IBM Developer for z/OS Select, you can activate your Z Open Editor client using an activation kit. The activation kit can be obtained through Shopz, Passport Advantage, or directly from your IBM sales representative. The kit consists of a single file that must be imported by each Z Open Editor user to activate the advanced capabilities.

1. Open the Z Open Editor Welcome page and scroll to the Advanced capabilities section.
2. Expand the "Activation Status subsection.
3. Click the Update activation key link below the table that presents the status of your trial.
4. Click Browse in the dialog, and select the activation kit file that you received.
5. Click Import in the dialog to finish activation.
6. VS Code prompts you to restart Z Open Editor; accept the prompt.
7. After the restart, open the Welcome page again. Confirm that the table now shows details about the activation kit that you imported.