Using the Zowe Explorer views

You can use Zowe™ Explorer to graphically navigate to resources on z/OS® using RSE API. When you have the Zowe Explorer VS Code extension installed, you can open the following three views by clicking the Zowe icon on the VS Code Activity bar to interact with z/OS resources:

  • DATA SETS view that shows your data sets and members and allows you to directly open, edit, and save your programs against MVS™.
  • UNIX SYSTEM SERVICES view that shows you z/OS UNIX System Services folders and files that you can also directly open, edit, and save.
  • JOBS view that gives you access to your jobs and spool files.

See the documentation in the VS Code Marketplace for details on using and configuring each view. More examples are available in the section Data Sets view actions, UNIX System Services view actions and Jobs view actions sections.

When you install IBM Z® Open Editor from the VS Code marketplace into your VS Code, the latest version of Zowe Explorer is automatically co-installed.

Setting up and using profiles in Zowe Explorer

To use Zowe Explorer, you must create an RSE or z/OSMF profile. You can also have multiple profiles of different types. For example, you can access one LPAR with z/OSMF and another with RSE API from within the same VS Code workspace using Zowe Explorer and IBM Z Open Editor. IBM Z Open Editor capabilities such as COBOL copybook or PL/I include file resolving is supported with both types of profiles.

There are multiple ways to create and edit a team configuration file for connecting to z/OS. For a walk-through of steps on how to create profiles by using Zowe Explorer, see Connecting to z/OS with Zowe Explorer walk through

When you connect to the host with either a z/OSMF profile or an RSE profile, you can view a tree list of data sets and members in the DATA SETS view, z/OS UNIX System Services files and directories in the UNIX SYSTEM SERVICES view, and jobs with spool files in the JOBS view.

Data Sets view actions

When you are connected to Zowe with a z/OSMF profile or an RSE profile, you can work with your COBOL, PL/I, and HLASM data sets in Zowe Explorer.

Switch to Zowe Explorer to display the DATA SETS view by clicking the Zowe icon on the Activity bar. If the DATA SETS view does not open by default, right-click a header and select the Data Sets checkbox.

Prerequisite: Before you edit data sets, connect to the Zowe server by expanding the node in the explorer that shows the name of the connection profile you created. The explorer displays a list of existing profiles.

Create data sets

A data set is created with the parameters defined in User Preferences. To create a data set, complete the following steps:

  1. Right-click the preferred profile name and select Create New Data Set from the context menu.

  2. Provide a name such as USER1.SAMPLE.COBOL, replacing USER1 with the High Level Qualifier for the new data set. Press Enter to continue.

  3. Select an option from the menu that includes multiple templates for partitioned and sequential data sets.

  4. To allocate the data set with default attributes, press Enter or select Allocate Data Set. To customize attributes, select Edit Attributes.

    • After editing attributes, press Enter or select Allocate Data Set to create the data set.

  5. A new data set appears in the DATA SETS view. Refresh the browser to display the new data set.

Create data set members

  1. Right-click the PDS and select Create New Member.
  2. Provide a name for the new member and press Enter.
  3. Expand the PDS to display the new member.

Delete data sets or data set members

  1. Right-click the data set or member you want to delete.
  2. Select Delete from the context menu. A confirmation dialog appears and lists the items you selected for deletion.
  3. Click Delete to confirm removal, or click Cancel to stop the deletion.

Copy and paste data sets or members

You can copy and paste data sets and members in the DATA SETS view with your RSE profile. Complete the following steps:

  1. In the DATA SETS view, locate the data set or the member you want to copy.
  2. Right-click the data set or the member and select Copy.
  3. Navigate to the new location to paste the data set or member, right-click, and select Paste.
  4. Enter a new name for the pasted data set or member, or keep the existing name.

Copy and paste across LPARS is also available with RSE profiles in Zowe Explorer. Follow the same steps as in the preceding section, but paste under a different profile for a different LPAR.

Filtering members in tree view

You can refine an MVS filter search in the Zowe Explorer tree view at the PDS member level. Use the filter icon that appears when you hover over the profile name. Filter options include Name, Date Created, Date Modified, and User ID.

Migrate and recall data sets

To migrate a data set, right-click the data set and select Migrate Data Set. An informational message appears Migration of dataset: USER1.SAMPLE.COBOL requested..

To recall a data set, right-click the migrated data set and select Recall Data Set. An informational message appears Recall of dataset: USER1.SAMPLE.COBOL requested..

You can verify the status in the following ways:

  • A migrated data set displays a greyed-out file icon.
    • Migrated data sets do not include the right-click option Show Data Set Attributes
  • A recalled data set displays a normal icon.

Note: If the data set migration or recall does not work, contact your system administrator to confirm that HSM is active on the host system.

Search data sets and members

Zowe Explorer lets you search the contents of data sets and members efficiently with RSE or z/OSMF profiles.

Search PDS members

You can search the content of PDS members that match specific patterns or naming conventions in Zowe Explorer using the "Search PDS Members" feature:

  1. In the DATA SETS view, locate the partitioned data set you want to search.
  2. Right-click the partitioned data set and select "Search PDS Members".
  3. Enter a search string when prompted. Tips for searching:
    • Use partial names (for example, TEST, LOAD) to find matching members.
    • Wildcards like * are supported (for example, PROG* to match PROG01, PROGABC, and so on).
    • The search is case-sensitive and follows z/OS naming conventions, which you can configure.
    • The search includes only members within the selected PDS.
  4. The ZOWE RESOURCES window displays the PDS members that match your search.

Search filtered data sets

You can search the content of data sets that match specific patterns or naming conventions in Zowe Explorer by using the "Search Filtered Data Sets" feature:

  1. In the DATA SETS view, right-click the RSE profile and select "Search Filtered Data Sets".
  2. Enter a search string when prompted. Tips for searching:
    • Use data set filters such as USER.PROJ.*, SYS1.*LIB*, or similar.
    • Use wildcards (*) for pattern-based matching.
    • The search includes both sequential data sets and PDS members.
    • The search returns only data sets accessible through the current profile.
  3. The ZOWE RESOURCES window displays the matching data sets and members.

When you click a match, the editor opens the matched string at the correct line in the data set or member.

Data sets pagination

Pagination in Zowe™ Explorer improves performance and usability by limiting the number of items displayed per page when you browse large collections of data sets or members. Pagination is available starting with RSE API v1.2.2.

Configure pagination settings in VS Code

To configure pagination in Zowe™ Explorer:

  1. Open your VS Code settings.
  2. Search for the option Ds › Paginate: Data Sets Per Page (zowe.ds.paginate.dataSetsPerPage) under data sets.
  3. Adjust the value to control how many items appear per page. For example, set the value to 5 to limit the view to five data sets or members per page.

This setting determines how many items are displayed per page in the Zowe Explorer view. It applies to both data sets and members within partitioned data sets (PDS).

Retrieve data sets using Zowe Explorer

In the Zowe™ Explorer panel, select any profile under the Data Sets section. Hover over the profile, click the magnifying glass icon, and enter a filter such as IBMUSER.\* in the dialog.

Pagination behavior

If the number of matching data sets or members exceeds the configured page size, Zowe Explorer performs the following actions:

  • Displays only five items per page.
  • Automatically splits the results across multiple pages.
  • Provides navigation buttons such as Next and Previous to move between pages.

This behavior applies whether you view:

  • A list of data sets under a high-level qualifier (HLQ), or
  • A list of members inside a partitioned data set (PDS).

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UNIX System Services view actions

Edit attributes for UNIX System Services files or directories

You can change the properties for UNIX SYSTEM SERVICES files or directories in Zowe Explorer, such as owner, group, and permissions, by completing the following steps with your RSE profile:

  1. In the UNIX SYSTEM SERVICES view, find the file or directory that you want to edit attributes for.
  2. Right-click the file or directory and click Edit Attributes.
  3. Modify the properties in the attributes view, and then click Apply Changes.
  4. (Optional) To obtain the latest attributes of the file or directory opened in the view, click Refresh.

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Copy and paste USS files or directories

You can copy and paste UNIX SYSTEM SERVICES files or directories in Zowe Explorer by completing the following steps with your RSE profile:

  1. In the UNIX SYSTEM SERVICES view, find the file or directory that you want to copy and paste.
  2. Right-click the file or directory and click Copy.
  3. Search the new location to paste the file or directory, and then right-click the new location and click Paste.

Jobs view actions

Submitting jobs

In Zowe Explorer, you can submit JCL, data sets, or members as jobs. For a full walkthrough, see Submitting JCL to compile, link, and run jobs.

Zowe Explorer displays a pop-up message in VS Code that lets you choose actions such as "Open Job", which adds the job to the Jobs tree view, and "Poll for Job Completion", which notifies you when the job completes and provides a button to "Open Job".

For job submission encoding, Zowe Explorer uses the profile's jobEncoding value. This is supported out of the box for z/OSMF profiles, and support is also available for RSE profiles.

Search for jobs

In the JOBS view of Zowe Explorer, you can query the jobs that you are interested in. You can filter job lists based on various combinations of criteria such as job owner, job prefix sub-string, and job status values such as Active, Input, or Output.

To search for jobs in the JOBS view:

  1. Switch to Zowe Explorer to display the JOBS view by clicking the Zowe icon on the Activity bar. If the JOBS view does not open by default, right-click a header and select the JOBS checkbox.
  2. Click the Search Jobs icon on the profile you want.
  3. Click Create a new filter. A menu appears where you can select parameters for the search. The default parameters include all jobs under your name.
  4. Click each menu item to modify the prefix, user, or status.
  5. Click a job search history item to modify the search criteria.
  6. Add a job search query to favorites by clicking Add to favorites.

Get Jcl

In Zowe Explorer JOBS view, you can retrieve the JCL for a submitted job by right-clicking the job name. For encoding of the JCL received, Zowe Explorer uses the encoding value defined in the profile used to download the data.

Cancel jobs

You can cancel an ongoing job in Zowe Explorer by completing the following steps:

  1. In the JOBS view, search for the job you want to cancel by owner or prefix.
  2. Right-click the job and click Cancel Job.

Spool file pagination

To configure pagination for spool files, open VS Code settings and search for Jobs > Paginate: Enabled and Jobs > Paginate: Records To Fetch. Enable pagination and specify the number of records to fetch at a time.

Open the Jobs view in Zowe Explorer. Select a profile, click the search icon, and retrieve jobs associated with a specific user ID.

Expand a job and click one of its spool files. The editor displays only the initial set of records defined in the Records To Fetch setting, followed by a Load More option.

Click Load More to retrieve the next set of records until the editor displays the entire spool file.

Actions available in multiple views

Add or remove favorites

  1. Right-click a resource, such as a data set, folder, job, or profile.
  2. Select Add to Favorites or Remove Favorite to add the resources to or remove from the Favorites tree.
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Contributors: Shi Kun Li, BillieJean-Simmons, Billie Simmons, Peter Haumer, Lauren Li, phaumer, kmaselli, lauren-li, KRISTINA MAYO, Chun Hong Zheng, Rudy Leonel Pichola Flores, Arghadeep Das, Esther M, Nimma Likhitha, likhithanimma1, Karan Patel, Karan, ArghadeepDas-ibm