z/OS Resources Table

The z/OS Resources Table provides a tabular view to interact with z/OS resources using your existing RSE API or z/OSMF Zowe profiles. It is an advanced capability available for users with an active license. It is designed to be both beginner-friendly for new mainframe application developers and to provide more experienced developers with the necessary tools and information to manage host resources.

Setting up profiles for the z/OS Resources Table

To use the z/OS Resources Table, you must create an RSE API or z/OSMF profile using Zowe Explorer. For more information on how to create profiles by using Zowe Explorer, see Connecting to z/OS with Zowe Explorer walkthrough.

Opening the z/OS Resources Table

You can open the z/OS Resources Table in one of the following ways:

• Cmd ⌘/Ctrl + Shift + P to open the command prompt and run the command >IBM Z Open Editor: Open z/OS Resource Table.
• After setting an active filter for a profile in the Zowe Explorer JOBS, DATA SETS, or USS view, right-click the active profile and select Show in z/OS Resource Table from the context menu. This will display items matching the filter in the table.
• After setting an active filter for a profile in the Zowe Explorer JOBS, DATA SETS, or USS view, right-click a resource (e.g. a data set, a job) and select Show in z/OS Resource Table from the context menu. This will display the selected resource in the table.

The first two methods will open the table and display the default Profiles view. The third method will display the data sets or jobs matching that filter.

Views

Profiles View

The profiles view displays the RSE API and z/OSMF profiles defined in your Zowe Explorer team configuration file. To start accessing z/OS resources for a specific profile, click on the row of that profile.

After clicking on a profile, a view is displayed that allows you to select a z/OS resource to access: MVS, USS, and JES. Clicking on one of these rows will load the MVS view, USS view, or JES view, respectively.

MVS View

The MVS view consists of the following rows that perform the following actions when clicked:

• Default User Data Sets: Displays all data sets that have the selected profile's user ID as their high-level qualifier (only available for profiles using password or passphrase authentication)
• Filters: Opens the Filters view where users can create and use custom patterns for viewing data sets.
• Favorites: Opens a view that displays data sets favorited by the user.
• History: Opens a view that displays the five most recently used patterns to filter data sets.

Clicking on the Default User Data Sets, a custom pattern in the Filters view, or a pattern in the History view will display data sets that match the selected pattern.

JES View

The JES view consists of the following rows that perform the following actions when clicked:

• Default User Jobs: Displays all jobs that have the selected profile's user as their owner (only available for profiles using password or passphrase authentication)
• Filters: Opens the Filters view where users can create and use custom patterns for viewing jobs.
• Favorites: Opens a view that displays jobs favorited by the user.
• History: Opens a view that displays the five most recently used queries to filter jobs.

Clicking on the Default User Jobs, a custom query in the Filters view, or a query in the History view will display jobs that match the selected query.

USS View

The USS view consists of the following rows that perform the following actions when clicked:

• User Files: Displays all items in the /u/user directory, where user is the selected profile's user (only available for profiles using password or passphrase authentication)
• Filters: Opens the Filters view where users can use and save paths for viewing UNIX items.
• Favorites: Opens a view that displays UNIX items favorited by the user.
• History: Opens a view that displays the five most recently viewed UNIX items.

Actions

When viewing resources, there are different kinds of actions available in the table. These include toolbar actions, batch actions, and overflow menu actions.

• Navigation actions are the same across all views. They can be used to navigate through the table's history or to return to the Profiles view.
• Toolbar actions are unique to specific views. For example, the Create Data Set button is only available when viewing data sets. Hovering a toolbar action button will display popover text describing what the button does.
• Overflow menu actions are available only in select views. Selecting an overflow menu action will perform the action for the selected resource. An overflow menu can be opened by clicking the three dots ⋮ on the right side of a row. These dots appear on row hover, and will not appear on rows that do not use overflow actions.
• The input area is a special field available while viewing jobs, UNIX files, or data sets that enables users to quickly change the active filter pattern and display an updated list of resources matching that pattern.

The last available kind of actions are batch actions.

Batch actions are only available for views with selectable rows. They are displayed after the user selects one or many rows using the checkboxes on the left side of the view. Batch actions are executed on every resource selected. For example, if a users selects checkboxes for multiple jobs and uses the Delete batch action, all the selected jobs will be deleted.

Search and Filter actions

The z/OS Resources Table provides actions for searching and filtering partitioned and sequential data sets to refine the results of the data sets query.

When viewing data sets, two new buttons for Search and Filter will be available in the toolbar.

Clicking the Search button will open a menu that allows users to perform a search for sequential data set content or partitioned data set members. After a search is submitted, it will stay active until it is cleared. To clear the search, press the Reset button to the right of the Submit button in the search menu.

Sequential data set search

For sequential data sets, you can specify string content in the input field. After clicking Submit, a search is performed for sequential data sets containing the specified content. The results are displayed in the table in expandable rows, which include the sequential data set name and its attributes, the number of matches, and the line that contains the content.

This search is limited to the active filter's scope (which is displayed in the top-left of the table) and by any filters specified in the Filter menu.

Partitioned data set member search

You can use the dropdown menu to switch the search from sequential data set content to partitioned data set members. This menu allows users to specify a member name pattern (accepts wildcards) and/or member content. After clicking Submit, only members matching that pattern and/or containing that content will be displayed in the table. Each member will be displayed in an expandable row, which includes the full member name, the number of matches, and the line that contains the matching content. Only members in partitioned data sets that match the active filter and any filters specified in the Filter menu will be included in the search.

You can also perform a member search within a partitioned data set. This search will only include members in the opened partitioned data set.

Clicking one of the matches in the search results will open the sequential data set/member in a new editor. The matching content within that line will be selected and your cursor will be placed at the end of the content.

UNIX file search

While browsing USS, you can click the Search button to open a menu that allows users to perform a search for UNIX files. You can specify a file name pattern (accepts wild cards) and or file content to search for. After clicking Submit, only files matching the specified pattern and/or containing the specified content will be displayed in the table.

Clicking one of the matches in the search results will open the file in a new editor. The matching content within that line will be selected and your cursor will be placed at the end of the content.

Filter

Clicking the Filter button will open a menu that contains checkboxes for controlling the visibility of partitioned and sequential data sets and an input field that accepts a data set name pattern. This input field accepts wildcards * and is used to limit the scope of the active filter further.

For example, if the active filter is IBMUSER.* and *.SAMPLE.* is entered into the input field and submitted, only data sets with IBMUSER as the high-level qualifier that contain a SAMPLE qualifier anywhere in the data set name will be displayed in the table (e.g. IBMUSER.SAMPLE.COBOL, IBMUSER.X.Y.Z.SAMPLE).

After adjusting the visibility of partitioned or sequential data sets and clicking Submit, only data sets that satisfy the filter(s) will be displayed in the table. This filter will stay active until it is cleared, even if the user changes the active filter. To clear the filter, press the Reset button to the right of the Submit button.

You can simultaneously specify and submit filters and a search to apply them to the active filter.

List of available actions

Below is a comprehensive list of all actions available for each resource.

• MVS data sets and members
  • Create, delete, rename, migrate, edit, allocate copy, favorite/unfavorite, view members, submit members as jobs, upload members, filter data sets by name, partitioned data set and member search (by name or content), sequential data set search (by name or content)
• USS files and directories
  • Create, delete, edit, upload files, rename, copy and paste, edit attributes, favorite/unfavorite, file search (by name or content)
• JES jobs
  • Delete, get JCL, issue stop command, issue modify command, view and download spool files
• All resources
  • Change active filter/query, create and save filters/queries, sort by attribute, view filter/query history, view favorites