IBM Z® Open Editor
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Docs
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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
  • 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

Exploring the user interface

If you have not worked with Microsoft Visual Studio Code before, we recommend you orient yourself reviewing the editor's Get Started sections first.

Then get familiar with the following key user interface capabilities and views that are most relevant for working with COBOL, PL/I, HLASM, REXX, and JCL program files:

  • Activity bar: Groups different views. You can click the icons on the bar a second time to hide its views.

  • Status bar: Displays the active Zowe client profile being used for z/OS actions such resolving remote include files or running user builds. It will pick profiles listed in user settings first, if not found any default RSE API profiles available next, and if not found the default z/OSMF profiles.

  • File explorer: Manages your projects and files.

  • Search: Provides various search capabilities.

  • Git: Manages changes to the repository. This is the default SCM tool.

  • Zowe Explorer: Lets you interact with z/OS.

  • Problems: Displays errors of files. You can open the Problems view via the View menu or by clicking the error and warning icons in the editor status bar at the bottom.

  • Terminal: Provides a command line interface that you can use to type any shell command, including advanced Git commands and Zowe Command Line operations to interact with z/OS. You can open the terminal through the Terminal menu or by pressing Ctrl+` (Windows and Mac).

  • Edit and Selection: Provides essential operations for editing.

  • Go: Provides essential navigation controls.

Last Updated: 1/21/26, 4:24 PM
Contributors: Lauren Li, Min Huang, Peter Haumer, Greg Lambert, Shi Kun Li, Rudy Leonel Pichola Flores, phaumer, Prasang Prajapati, Hestia Zhang, Billie Simmons
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Tutorial overview
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Exploring the sample files