IBM Z® Open Editor
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Docs
News and Blogs
IBM Downloads
VS Code Marketplace
GitHub
  • Overview

    • Introduction
    • Updates and user feedback
  • Getting Started

    • Getting started with IBM Z Open Editor
    • Setting up integrations to interact with z/OS
    • Getting started with Zowe 3.0
  • Configuration

    • Setting preferences
    • Configuring your applications with ZAPP files
    • Setting property groups
    • Setting compiler options
    • Setting file associations
    • Setting language-specific tab stops and rulers
    • Enabling and disabling problems in IBM Z Open Editor
    • Enabling and disabling unreachable COBOL code warnings
    • Customizing the Outline view
    • Setting language-specific maximum line length
    • EBCDIC code pages and mappings files
    • Experimental: Formatting COBOL source code
  • Tutorials

    • Tutorial overview
    • Exploring the user interface
    • Exploring the sample files
    • COBOL editing tutorial
    • COBOL, PL/I Preprocessor tutorial
    • HLASM editing tutorial
    • REXX editing tutorial
    • Managing z/OS resources with IBM RSE API Plug-in for Zowe CLI tutorial
    • Submitting JCL to compile, link, and run jobs tutorial
  • Editing program files

    • Language References
    • Making COBOL and PL/I code changes
    • Making High Level Assembler code changes
    • Making REXX code changes
    • Making JCL code changes
    • Using and managing code snippets
    • Using the integrated Git
    • Searching for COBOL, PL/I, HLASM, and REXX components
  • Interacting with z/OS using Zowe

    • Interacting with z/OS
    • Creating a configuration profile in Zowe Explorer v3.0.0
    • Migrating your old Zowe yaml profiles for Zowe v3.0
    • Supported methods of authentication for z/OS using Zowe
    • Sharing team configuration files
    • Connecting to z/OS with Zowe Explorer walk through
    • Using the Zowe Explorer views
    • Using Zowe profiles in Z Open Editor
    • Connecting to z/OS using Zowe CLI walk through
    • Using command line to interact with z/OS
    • Interact with RSE Common Properties
  • Advanced Capabilities

    • Overview
    • Activating advanced capabilities
    • Launching a 3270 emulator from Zowe Explorer
    • z/OS Resources Table
    • Data Elements View
    • Program Control Flow Browser
    • Data Flow Browser
    • Preprocessor support
    • Custom Macros for HLASM
    • Language Detection
    • Linting with IBM ZCodeScan
    • User build with IBM Dependency Based Build (DBB)
    • Agent Mode
    • Line Hex Editor
  • Cloud-based Editing

    • Overview to using Cloud and Browser-based platforms
    • Try Z Open Editor in the Red Hat Developer Sandbox
    • Configuring Red Hat OpenShift Dev Spaces
    • Managing Developer Workspaces
    • Managing secrets
    • Create and use custom images
    • Migrating from IBM Wazi for Dev Spaces
    • Using Z Open Editor on GitHub Codespaces
    • Using Z® Open Editor with Dev Containers
  • Troubleshooting

    • Known issues and limitations
    • Troubleshooting using log files
    • Troubleshooting for User Build
    • Uninstalling CLI plugins and VS Code extensions
  • Reference

    • IBM RSE API Plug-in for Zowe CLI commands
    • IBM RSE API Plug-in for Zowe CLI as nodejs SDK package
    • IBM RSE API Plug-in for Zowe CLI as nodejs SDK reference
    • Example Zowe configuation setups
    • IBM Z Open Editor MCP Tools
    • Accessibility and Keyboard Shortcuts
    • settings.json properties
    • Message ID Reference
    • Other Visual Studio Code extensions
  • Legal information

    • Notices
    • Trademarks
    • Privacy policy considerations

Troubleshooting for User Build

Nothing happens when "Run IBM User Build" option is clicked

Possible reasons

This issue can occur if Z Open Editor cannot find a proper Java™ SDK to start Language Server Protocol. Make sure Z Open Editor is using a valid Java SDK. Follow instructions on configuring Java in the Getting started.

Local copybooks or includes for a file are not found

Possible reasons

  • Copybooks or Includes cannot be found by the user build.

    Make sure IBM Z® Open Editor property groups are set up so that it can locate copybooks or include files. Details on configuring property groups are available in Setting property groups. To test whether a copybook can be resolved, open a program file in the editor and move your mouse cursor over the copybook or include file name. If a preview appears, it means the copybook or include is resolved successfully.

  • IBM Z Open Editor Language Server protocol did not resolve copybooks for the user build.

    • Try closing and reopening the COBOL, PL/I, or HLASM file.
    • Try reloading the editor. In VS Code, open the command palette by pressing Ctrl+Shift+P and search for >Developer: Reload Window. Click the command to execute it.

User Build gets stuck executing an SSH command when using z/OSMF

An example output is as follows:

...
Using ssh profile myZoweSSHProfile
Using zowe profile myZoweCLIProfile
Executing ssh command:
 mkdir -p /u/user/projects/wazi-sample/COBOL

Possible reasons

You are not authenticated through a firewall. If a firewall protects your z/OS® instance, make sure you are authenticated. Verify that you can issue Zowe™ SSH commands with your SSH profile. See the examples in the Zowe doc site.

User Build gets stuck after Fetching build file dependencies...

Possible reasons

This issue can occur if the language server fails to fetch dependencies. Try reloading the window. In VS Code, open the command palette by pressing Ctrl+Shift+P and search for >Developer: Reload Window. Then run User Build again.

User Build cannot find the ZAPP dbb profile and prints Required setting is missing for all ZAPP settings

Possible reasons

This error might occur for several reasons:

  • Reason 1: Your ZAPP file is invalid. Ensure that the ZAPP file is valid. Review the IBM Z Open Editor Output log for more information.
  • Reason 2: An invalid profile is defined under the dbbDefaultZappProfile VS Code User setting. Leave this setting blank so that User Build selects the first defined profile, or specify an existing valid profile.
  • Reason 3: If none of the above applies, try reloading the VS Code window. In VS Code, open the command palette by pressing Ctrl+Shift+P and search for >Developer: Reload Window. Then run User Build again.

Could not automatically get active VS Code workspace folder for this file error

Trying to run a user build on a file produces the following error:

Could not automatically get active VS Code workspace folder for this file. Make sure you are running User Build from a file that belongs to an active workspace opened locally in your editor. You can also define the localWorkspacePath setting to resolve this issue.

Possible reasons

This error might occur for the following reasons:

  • Reason 1: You are running a user build on a file that does not belong to an active workspace in VS Code. Make sure you import your project into VS Code properly.

    To add a folder to the workspace, select File > Add Folder to Workspace and choose your project folder.

  • Reason 2: The active file was not detected by VS Code because another window has focus. For example, if you have an active terminal open in VS Code, it can take focus away from the editor. Close other windows and terminals, then try again.

All configured authentication methods failed when using z/OSMF and SSH

Using ssh profile myZoweSSHProfile
Using zowe profile profile myZoweCLIProfile
Identified local root workspace path as c:\Users\zopeneditor-sample
Running setup to build c:\Users\zopeneditor-sample\COBOL\SAM1.cbl program.
Executing ssh command:
 mkdir -p /u/user/zopeneditor-sample
An error occurred: All configured authentication methods failed

Possible reasons

  • This error occurs when the Zowe SSH profile is not valid. Ensure that the profile has the correct host, user name, password, and port defined.

    Run the following command to test whether the profile is valid. Replace the command inside the quotes with your own command:

    zowe uss issue ssh --ssh-profile myZoweSSHProfile "mkdir -p /u/user/zopeneditor-sample"
    
  • This error occurs when the Zowe profile is not valid. Verify that you can execute Zowe CLI commands using that profile.

To run a user build, ensure that a Zowe profile is created and defined in settings. If no credentials are found for the profile during the initial run of an IBM User Build, you are prompted to enter your credentials for the z/OS connection. Both the Secure Credential Store plug‑in and plain text credentials are supported.

Last Updated: 1/21/26, 4:24 PM
Contributors: PETER HAUMER, phaumer, Esther M, Billie Simmons
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