IBM Z® Open Editor

Getting started with IBM Z Open Editor

The procedure to get started with IBM Z® Open Editor is summarized as follows:

  1. Get the latest version of Microsoft Visual Studio Code (VS Code)
  2. Install the prerequisites (a Java™ 21 runtime environment as a minimum)
  3. Install the IBM Z Open Editor VS Code extension from the VS Code Marketplace
  4. (Optional) Set up integrations, such as installing IBM RSE API Plug-in for Zowe CLI to interact with z/OS®
  5. (Optional) Connect to an RSE API server with license tokens or import activation kits to enable Advanced Capabilities

Privacy notice

IBM Z Open Editor is provided free of charge, but we ask you to provide us feedback via the various means available including:

This editor uses Microsoft VS Code's Telemetryopen in new window solution, which collects anonymized telemetry data to help improve the product. While these insights are valuable, telemetry reporting can be disabled as described in Disable Telemetry Reportingopen in new window. For more information about data handling, refer to IBM®'s General Privacy Statementopen in new window. All telemetry data that is sent can be viewed in the Z Open Editor log file when the log level is set to Debug, as documented in Troubleshooting using log files.

This current release of IBM Z Open Editor will collect anonymous data for the following events:

  • Activation of this VS Code extension
  • Deactivation of this VS Code extension
  • Opening, closing and saving files of a specific language such as COBOL, PL/I, HLASM, REXX, JCL
  • Resolving of include files and assembler macros: success or failure
  • Using common language server operations such as code completion, references, definition, rename
  • Starting a user build
  • Responding to the feedback dialog
  • Using various Advanced Capabilities, such as opening the z/OS Resources table or running a ZCodeScan
  • Activating trial or full unlock licenses

Such events are logged with the following information:

  • Event time
  • Operating system and version
  • Country or region
  • Anonymous user and session ID
  • The type of editor used (VS Code, Eclipse Theia, Red Hat Dev Spaces)
  • Version numbers of Microsoft VS Code and IBM Z Open Editor
  • The major Java version and vendor used by the language servers
  • The name of the Z programming language used
  • The name of the operation performed
  • The type of z/OS protocol used (z/OSMF vs RSE API)

Installing the IBM Z Open Editor VS Code extension

IBM Z Open Editor is an extension for VS Code. Before installation, ensure that you have installed and configured the prerequisites, most importantly a Java runtime as main parts of the extension are implemented in the Java programming language.

Prerequisites

Review the IBM Z Open Editor License Agreementopen in new window and Third Party Noticesopen in new window before downloading.

Prerequisites for the installation:

  • VS Code version 1.102.3 or later (recommended version: 1.104.0): IBM Z Open Editor is delivered as an extension to VS Code rather than as a stand-alone editor. Therefore, VS Code must be installed and configured first. It is recommended to use the latest available version of VS Code. If VS Code is not already installed, consider using the Visual Studio Code for Java Installeropen in new window provided by Microsoft. This installer automatically downloads and installs both a Java SDK and VS Code. The next bullet about the Java dependency can be skipped if this option is used. For information about installation and configuration of VS Code, refer to its documentationopen in new window.

  • Java SDK or JRE version 21 or later - 64 bit: The language servers included in this extension are implemented in Java. To start the extension successfully, a 64-bit Java SDK or Runtime must be installed and configured. It is recommended to install VS Code for Java, as described in the preceding section, since it automatically includes the required Java SDK. However, if VS Code is already installed or if manual installation is preferred, the following options are available for installing Java:

    Various settings are provided to configure how the extension uses Java. See the Configuring Java section below for more details.

  • Zowe Explorer VS Code extension 3.2.2 or later and Zowe CLI 8.11.0 or later (optional): To make use of Zoweopen in new window to open and edit files directly from z/OS® MVS™ or z/OS UNIX System Services, you must have Zowe client software and host components configured. More information on setting up Zowe can be found at Setting up integrations to interact with z/OS. After installation, you can access z/OS resources as documented in Interacting with z/OS.

    Note: When you install IBM Z Open Editor from the VS Code Marketplace into your VS Code, the latest version of the Zowe Explorer VS Code extension is automatically co-installed as it is a mandatory prerequisite for running Z Open Editor.

  • (Optional) Git: To use the features that involve Git, you must install Git and have it available in your system path so that VS Code can display it. On Macs, Git comes out of the box. On Linux, you can install Git with your distribution's package manager. On Windows, you can get Git from https://git-scm.comopen in new window.

Installing IBM Z Open Editor

There are several ways to download and install IBM Z Open Editor. If you plan to use or evaluate the non-warranted and unsupported version, you can install it directly from the VS Code Marketplaceopen in new window or the Open VSX Registryopen in new window.

If you are an IBM Developer for z/OS Enterprise Edition or IBM Application Delivery Foundation for z/OSopen in new window customer, or are otherwise entitled to technical support for Z Open Editor in any other way, it is recommended to use one of the extension packs, which install several VS Code extensions automatically. You can also download a convenient ZIP file from the Mainframe DEV Download siteopen in new window. The ZIP includes code signing signature files and other related software components that are not VS Code extensions, such as Zowe CLI, the IBM RSE API Plugin for Zowe CLI, and the IBM CICS Plugin for Zowe CLI.

Installing IBM Z Open Editor from the VS Code marketplace

When the correct Java runtime is installed and configured, you can use either of the following ways to get versions of IBM Z Open Editor that are available in the VS Code Marketplace:

Then, click the Install button and wait for the installation to complete.

Installing IBM Z Open Editor from the Open VSX Registry

If you already have or want to configure VS Code to use the alternative public or a private on-site Open VSX Registry, or if you are using a VS Code compatible editor such as VSCodium or Eclipse Theia that use it by default, then you can find and install IBM Z Open Editoropen in new window and install it from there as well. See the Open VSX documentationopen in new window for how to configure and use this registry instead.

Installing from an extension pack

Two extension packs are available that include Z Open Editor along with various other extensions, providing customers a convenient way to install and manage IBM's family of VS Code tools with just a few mouse clicks.

To learn more about each of these extensions, navigate to the links provided in the description of each extension pack.

To install an extension pack, follow the same instructions used for installing Z Open Editor from the VS Code Marketplace or Open-VSX:

  • Search for the pack in the VS Code Extension view or on the marketplace's web page.
  • Click the Install button.

After the extension pack and its included extensions are installed, you can enable or disable each individual extension in the VS Code Extension view. When a new version of any extension is published, updates are installed automatically. Reinstallation of the extension pack is not required.

Installing IBM Z Open Editor from a VSIX file

If you have downloaded the Mainframe DEV Center's Download for VS Codeopen in new window, you can install it with the following steps in VS Code.

  1. Unzip the downloaded zip file.
  2. Open the README.txt file in a text editor and follow the (optional) steps described there to verify the individual files with the provided code signing signatures.
  3. To install the zopeneditor-<version>.vsix file in VS Code, click the Extensions icon in VS Code's activity bar to open the Extensions view.
  4. Click the ... icon in the Extensions view's upper-right corner to reveal a drop-down menu of more actions.
  5. In the drop-down menu that appears, click Install from VSIX....
  6. Use the file picker that pops up to navigate to and select the VSIX file you downloaded, and then click Install.
  7. The extension should be installed from the VSIX file.

Verifying the installation of IBM Z Open Editor

To quickly test whether IBM Z Open Editor is installed correctly, you can open a COBOL, PL/I, HLASM, REXX, or JCL program file on your machine. If you do not have such files on your machine, you can clone the sample repository as described in the Exploring the sample files section and open its COBOL, PL/I, HLASM, REXX, or JCL program files. If you see syntax highlighting on COBOL, PL/I, HLASM, REXX, or JCL code, the extension is working correctly.

Configuring Java

The IBM Z Open Editor Welcome page will show you if Java was found successfully. To open the Welcome page, press Ctrl+Shift+P (Windows) or Cmd+Shift+P (MacOS), and type IBM Z Open Editor: Welcome. Check the prerequisites table on the page, and click the Java section to expand.

The COBOL, PL/I, HLASM, REXX, and JCL language servers used by IBM Z Open Editor were implemented using the Java programming language. Therefore, a Java Runtime is required to be available via settings or the program path to start in VS Code. The IBM Z Open Editor extension uses VS Code Settings properties, which can be added to VS Code user settings, to configure which and how Java should be used. These settings allow you to select the specific installation of Java to pick, in case you have several installations, as well as set parameters such as how much memory you want the extension to use.

Selecting the Java installation to use

Before starting a language server, the language server clients in the IBM Z Open Editor VS Code extension look in several locations to find a matching Java installation. They search in the following order and select the first Java that is version 21 or higher and 64-bit. If a Java installation fails either criterion, the search continues until a suitable version is found.

  1. The zopeneditor.JAVA_HOME VS Code user setting.
  2. The java.home VS Code user setting.
  3. The JAVA_HOME environment variable.
  4. The PATH defined for the environment in which Z Open Editor runs, that is, you default Windows or MacOS path.
  5. A typical platform-specific location. For example, on MacOS, execute the /usr/libexec/java_home -V; on Windows, run the where java.exe commands to locate a valid Java installation.

As you can see, user settings always take precedence over the other options listed, which enables you to specify a different Java version for IBM Z Open Editor than the default on your computer in case you have installed multiple versions. If you used the recommended Visual Studio Code for Java Installeropen in new window, the java.home user setting was set by this installer. Also note that the methods at the end of the list require a significant amount of time as they are executing programs on your system. To improve startup times you should consider user settings as they provide the best startup performance.

If Java cannot be located, check the VS Code Output view's Z Open Editor tab for any error and try to fix the problem by either setting the JAVA_HOME environment variable or creating an entry in your VS Code user settings.

To define a user setting, use the Preferences > Settings menu and either locate the setting in the graphical editor under IBM Z Open Editor or edit the setting JSON file directly by adding an entry as follows using an absolute path name to the Java installation directory.

On MacOS:

"zopeneditor.JAVA_HOME": "/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk21/Contents/Home"

On Windows:

"zopeneditor.JAVA_HOME": "C:\\Program Files\\Java\\jdk21"

Configuring the Java memory allocation

By default, the language server client that starts the individual language servers for COBOL, PL/I, HLASM, or REXX allocates a maximum of 512 MB of memory for each. The language servers will consume much less memory at startup, and then allocate and free memory when parsing programs. However, they might run out of memory when parsing very large program files and reach the predefined limit. To allow allocating more memory, use the following VS Code setting to specify a new maximum value:

"zopeneditor.server.memoryAllocation": 640

Keep in mind that this value is for each language you use, so when using both COBOL and PL/I, you might end up with a consumption of double the amount specified. If you are working with smaller programs or your computer might not support such a large amount of memory, you can also try values smaller than 512 with this setting.

Using IBM Z Open Editor in cloud-based editors

Z Open Editor can be installed and used with various cloud or browser-based editing environments that utilize VS Code as the editor. See Overview to using Cloud and Browser-based platforms for some quickstart tutorials and configuration examples.

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Contributors: Shi Kun Li, Peter Haumer, Lauren Li, Min Huang, Peter Haumer, Lauren Li, Billie Simmons, PETER HAUMER, kmaselli, Chun Hong Zheng, KRISTINA MAYO, Lauren K Li, Saile Daimwood, shikunli, Billie Jean Simmons, BillieJean-Simmons, ClaireZheng, Evann Wu, Greg Lambert, Gregory Lambert, Keng-Hui Beall, Lauren K. Li, Prasang Prajapati