Finally — A Modern Interface for Mainframe is Available to All
{Core} Great news — Open Mainframe Project’s Zowe Explorer for Intellij IDEA is now available!
With the plugin , you’ll be able to work with mainframe through a modern interface — using a single toolbar and structured trees — and drag-and-drop operations.
If you need to work with z/OS data sets, USS files, and Jobs from the IntelliJ IDEA, then the Zowe Explorer may be the right solution for you.
In this short post, we’ll walk you through:
- Why the explorer was created and what it can give you
- How to perform common actions and use cases in the explorer
- How to download the explorer and get involved with the project
Let’s dig in.
Meet the Zowe Explorer: A Modern Interface for Mainframe
As a Java or Python developer or tester for mainframe applications, for quite a long period of time you have had no options at all to access the zOS directly from your preferred IDE. There was nothing on Intellij Marketplace.
You heard a lot from other mainframers that VS Code has Zowe Explorer that works great with zOS — and now these capabilities have been extended to IntelliJ.
The Zowe Explorer extends IntelliJ’s tools, in a way similar to the VS Code Zowe Explorer and gives developers a modern way to interact with Mainframe. It makes life simple for developers who don’t need every Mainframe function, and helps attract new professionals who are interested in working in Mainframe, but who are turned away by its legacy UI/UX.
To do so, the Zowe Explorer:
- Makes interactions with mainframe as simple and intuitive as possible
- Reduces complexity by only requiring a mainframe connection and working set (user-created masks or filters applied to datasets)
- Follows the IntelliJ user flow to bring a modern interface to Mainframe
By doing so, the Zowe Explorer:
- Improves the user experience when developing for Mainframe
- Makes Mainframe more accessible and appealing to more professionals
- Modernizes Mainframe, and connects it to other modern development tools
Best of all, the Zowe Explorer is a simple, lightweight plugin that’s offered as a free, open-source solution. Read on to learn how to bring it to your Mainframe projects.
Using the Zowe Explorer: Common Actions and Use Cases
The Zowe Explorer is a simple, flexible plugin that can perform a wide range of mainframe actions through an intuitive, visual interface. Let’s look at a few of these common actions and use cases, and see how you can easily perform them.
How to Install the Zowe Explorer
To install the Zowe IntelliJ plugin, first go to Settings, click on Plugins and open the Marketplace. From there, search for the Zowe Explorer and install it. Once it’s installed, it will appear as a tab on the upper right hand side of your environment.
How to Create the z/OSMF Connection
Next, you will need to create the z/OSMF Connection to your Mainframe.
To do so, you can manually specify all required info through Settings, or you can just click the + sign in the Zowe Explorer and fill in a few fields.
After you input this information, you will need to create a Files Working Set (a set of masks or filters applied to z/OS datasets or USS files). The explorer will automatically open a window to do so. Just specify the Files Working Set’s name, click the + sign to add a Mask, and press OK.
Your plugin panel will now have every relevant file and dataset ready for you.
You can follow the same process to create a test environment.
How to work with JCL Jobs
You can also operate JCL jobs, to see their logs, and to view and edit JCL with the Zowe Explorer.
To do so, you just need to create a JES Working Set (a set of filters applied to active or finished JES jobs). Switch from File Explorer to JES Explorer in the window, and then follow the same basic process outlined above to create a Files Working Set.
Finally, you can easily operate JCL jobs through the explorer. Just create a JES Working Set, open the appropriate Working Set and member, then click “Submit Job”, and the explorer will run the job for you.
How to Work with Datasets
The Zowe Explorer also makes it easy to work with datasets. You can perform core functions, including:
- Creating new datasets and members
- Allocate a new dataset like an existing dataset (via the “Allocate Like” item)
- Copy and paste members between datasets
- Rename datasets and members
- View the properties of any dataset or member
- Delete datasets and members
How to Work with USS Files
You can also work with USS files in the Zowe Explorer by creating a new Files Working Set, and specifying its type as USS.
The Road Ahead: How to Use and Support the Zowe Explorer
The Zowe Explorer is a big step forward for all-things-Mainframe.
It brings a much-needed modernization tool to upgrade Mainframe’s user interface, and makes this fundamental technology much easier to use — and more accessible and attractive to new generations of technology professionals.
For that, we all owe a big “thank you” to everyone who contributed to this project, and who got it this far. That includes the teams at IBA who developed it, the people at ZAC and TSC who incubated the project, and the CLI squad who helped to guide its development, and all of our mentors and mentees along the way.
And, of course, we’d like to thank you — the mainframe users who will deploy this plugin, put it to work on mission critical real-world projects, and drive its innovation.
The Intellij IDEA Zowe Explorer can only transform the world of Mainframe if it’s adopted by as many people as possible, and if they share their time, experience, and perspective on how to expand and refine its functionality.
If you’d like to help the cause, then you have two next steps:
- Download the Zowe Explorer and use it for all of your mainframe projects
- Support the team behind the explorer by joining our Slack channel, sharing insights on our GitHub, and contributing code
Learn more:
If you enjoyed this blog check out more Zowe blogs here. Or, ask a question and join the conversation on the Open Mainframe Project Slack Channel #zowe-explorer-intellij, #zowe-explorer, #zowe-cli, #zowe-dev, #zowe-user, or #zowe-onboarding. If this is your first time using the Open Mainframe Slack Channel register here.
