View mainframe data sets from your favorite IDE
“Eighty percent of the world’s corporate data resides or originates on the mainframe.”
Heard this, or something like it, before? This means a lot of people interact with mainframe data during their daily routines. If you’re one of them, your routine may look more or less like this:
- Log in to the mainframe using a 3270 emulator
- Navigate to a data set
- Locate all the needed records and create a list
- Process the list according to your task
Having gone through this routine day after day, year after year, you may have come to accept it. After all, it’s proven, reliable, and done within a reasonable amount of time.
However, if you suspect that there might be something more efficient and more straightforward, you are right. Let’s take a look.
Data Set Viewer is a Visual Studio Code extension that enables you to view mainframe data sets, including VSAM, in a Comma Separated Value (CSV) format, using layouts and selection criteria. Data Set Viewer is powered by CA File Master Plus and leverages another Visual Studio Code extension, Zowe Explorer.
Note: There are prerequisites and initial setup is needed before you can use Data Set Viewer. Please check this short video to get you going faster.
Let’s have a look at some sample use cases to illustrate how Data Set Viewer works. You can then see for yourself whether it can make a difference for your daily mainframe data access routine.
- A businessperson needs to review generated reports stored on mainframe
- A tester creates test data from a production data set
- A developer checks COBOL program data output
A businessperson needs to review generated report stored on mainframe
A mainframe batch processing job has just produced an enormous report about customers’ monthly payments. The report is stored in a Physical Sequential (PS) flat file and the data structure is described by a COBOL copybook. The task for the businessperson is to review the highest payments to make sure they are not overdue.
A tester creates test data out of production data set
An application which consumes customers’ monthly payment reports is going to be enhanced with new requirements. The task is to prepare reasonable test sets that validate the application changes. A sample production report is used to speed up the test data creation. Test data sets are populated back to mainframe VSAM Key-Sequenced Data Sets using Zowe CLI and its File Master Plus plug-in.
A developer checks COBOL program data output
An application that creates customers’ monthly payment reports was enhanced to produce a new record type. The developer’s task is to double-check the application output before handing over the enhancement to the quality assurance team.
Data Set Viewer is simple to use, and the standard CSV output opens up possibilities for a variety of use cases. In what ways might you use Data Set Viewer? I’d be happy to hear about your own use cases! Leave a comment below.
Happy Data Set Viewing!
