Code4z Offers Two Paths to VS Code for Mainframe

Quick Start for individuals chomping at the bit and Complete Experience for fully-featured team adoption

The excitement around using VS Code for mainframe application development is palpable. At the recent SHARE conference, several sessions described how it’s already empowering developers, young and old, with a contemporary experience (DevX) loved by their peers around the globe.

This powerful experience is ideal for mainframe applications that are:

• Complex, difficult-to-navigate, and difficult-to-understand
• Monolithic
• Mission-critical

VS Code’s streamlined code navigation capabilities coupled with risk-mitigating automations create a highly optimized experience for mainframe applications, the corporate crown jewels.

For more context about the VS Code potential for mainframe AppDev and about Code4z, the free and open extension pack that transforms VS Code into a mainframe developer cockpit, check out the many resources at code4z.broadcom.com.

So how can you take advantage?

Code4z offers two primary approaches to adoption:

• Quick Start (individual) — While not recommended as an organizational strategy, experienced VS Code users can begin using Code4z immediately, without prework.
• Complete Experience— Investing up-front at the team level rewards users with a rich and complete experience inclusive of SSO and seamless access to all of the necessary mainframe resources.

Quick Start (individual)

Provided you have the necessary approvals, simply:

• Download and install VS Code
• Download and install the Code4z extension pack
• Download and install Zowe Explorer Extension for FTP if you do not have z/OSMF REST APIs set up on your LPAR
• Begin using: COBOL Language Support, COBOL Control Flow, HLASM Language Support, and other extensions beyond Code4z (see below) in combination with VS Code’s native capabilities. Use FTP as a backend alternative to z/OSMF.

It’s that simple. Users already familiar with VS Code may choose this approach in the short term while the broader team follows the Complete Experience track. With this option, champions can socialize the benefits of VS Code while encouraging enterprise adoption.

Use Quick Start to socialize the possibilities or go straight to the Complete Experience

Complete Experience

These steps should be championed by an AppDev team lead, an architect, or an infrastructure/tools lead.

• Install the z/OSMF-enabled Zowe framework, if not already done (download available here). The advantages of Zowe enablement are huge and the Zowe CLI and API Mediation Layer are particularly important to the developer experience. SSO alone makes this a vital prerequisite and Zowe Explorer is a cornerstone of Code4z.
• Endevor users should install Endevor Web Services, which opens up a wide range of Code4z possibilities, including the Explorer for Endevor extension. To streamline this process, there’s an implementation checklist in the technical documentation. Consider using this window to offer a Git experience with Endevor Bridge for Git [see whitepaper].
• For Git-native source code, install Team Build to automate the build process. Team Build is a lightweight, processor-based engine that supports both production and developer builds using JavaScript, the most popular programming language.
• Debugging, VSAM data editing, and abend analysis depend on back-end services offered through the Broadcom Mainframe DevOps Suite. Deploy the following products along with the Testing Tools Server to enjoy the complete experience: Debugger for Mainframe relies on Intertest services; Abend Analyzer for Mainframe relies on SymDump services; Data Editor for Mainframe relies on File Master Plus services.

Once the recommended back-end services are in place, you’re off to the races. Individual developers then download and install VS Code and Code4z and enjoy the fully-featured Code4z experience while those less open to change can continue to use the old technologies uninterrupted (i.e., ISPF & Eclipse).

Beyond the Code4z pack

Code4z users should take note of these complementary extensions (i.e., not currently part of the pack):

Languages

• JCL Language Support
• Rexx Language Support
• Easytrieve Language Support

Source Access

• Bridge for Git Explorer (use Bridge for Git actions directly in a workspace)
• Endevor for Zowe CLI (perform Endevor operations with a scriptable, developer-friendly interface from the terminal)

Db2

• IBM Db2 for z/OS Developer Extension
• DBM for Db2 for Zowe CLI (self-provision schema changes for dev/test purposes)

CICS

• Zowe Explorer for CICS

These are, of course, in addition to the vast array of more than 50k extensions for non-mainframe languages and tools available in the marketplace.

And take a moment to check out the full range of Zowe Conformant CLI plug-ins.

Looking Ahead

There are lots of exciting additions planned for Code4z in areas like testing, API enablement, and application understanding, but there’s no time to begin your adoption journey like the present. Enterprise support for Code4z, and Zowe, is available through the Broadcom Mainframe DevOps Suite so contact your Broadcom account team and/or your Mainframe Business Specialist to learn more.

Enjoy your Code4z experience!