Information Roadmap for Zowe Explorer

This roadmap outlines the information resources that are applicable to the users who are interested in Zowe Explorer. These resources provide information about various subject areas, such as learning basic skills, installation, developing, and troubleshooting for Zowe Explorer.

The following definition of skill levels about Zowe Explorer helps you find the most relevant resources:

• Beginner: You're starting out and want to learn the fundamentals.
• Intermediate: You have some experience but want to learn more in-depth skills.
• Advanced: You have lots of experience and are looking to learn about specialized topics.

Fundamentals

Zowe skill level: Beginner

• Zowe Explorer overview

  New to Zowe Explorer? This overview topic introduces the key features, main components, and benefits of Zowe Explorer.

• Zowe Explorer FAQs

  If you have a question, review the FAQ, which answers the most commonly asked questions about Zowe Explorer.

• Blog: Visual Studio Code for Mainframe Via the Zowe Explorer Extension

  This Medium article outlines the basics of Zowe Explorer, including Getting Started videos.

Installing and configuring

Zowe skill level: Beginner

• Installing Zowe Explorer

  This page includes the system requirements and steps for installing the Zowe Explorer.

• Video: Getting started with Zowe Explorer (Part 1)

• Video: Getting started with Zowe Explorer (Part 2)

  These videos help you to get started with Zowe Explorer and show the basic data set use cases.

• Zowe Explorer Profiles

  This page describes how to create and work with Zowe Explorer profiles. Having a profile enables you to use all functions of the extension, activate the Secure Credential Store plug-in to securely store credentials, and more.

Using Zowe Explorer

Zowe skill level: Intermediate

• Using Zowe Explorer

  This page includes usage tips and sample use cases for data sets, USS files, JOBs, and TSO commands. Familiarize yourself with the extension and make the best use of available options and features.

Extending Zowe Explorer

Zowe skill level: Advanced

• Extend Zowe Explorer

  Learn how to create extensions for Zowe Explorer to introduce new functionalities.

• Zowe Explorer CICS Extension

  Learn how to install the CICS extension. The extension adds CICS functionality to the Visual Studio Code extension, which lets you interact with CICS regions and programs.

• Zowe Explorer FTP Extension

  Learn how to install and use the FTP extension. The extension adds the FTP protocol to the Zowe Explorer VS Code extension, which lets use z/OS FTP Plug-in for Zowe CLI profiles to connect and interact with z/OS USS.

• Zowe Explorer repository

  The GitHub repository of contains the source code of Zowe Explorer and other Zowe Explorer-related extensions. Check out the landing page README in the repository to find out how to contribute to the extension.

• Developing for Eclipse Theia

  This article contains information on how to develop for Eclipse Theia.

Contributing to Zowe Explorer

Zowe skill level: Advanced

• Contributing guidelines

  This document is intended to be a living summary of conventions & best practices for development of the Visual Studio Code Extension for Zowe.

• Conformance Program

  This topic introduces the Zowe Conformance Program. Conformance provides Independent Software Vendors (ISVs), System Integrators (SIs), and end users greater confidence that their software will behave as expected. As vendors, you are invited to submit conformance testing results for review and approval by the Open Mainframe Project. If your company provides software based on Zowe CLI, you are encouraged to get certified today.

• Blog: Zowe Conformance Program Explained

  This Medium article provide more details about the Conformance Program, including useful references.

Troubleshooting and support

• Troubleshooting Zowe Explorer

  Learn about the tools and techniques that are available to help you troubleshoot and resolve problems. You can also find the list of Zowe Explorer issues.

• Submit an issue

  If you have an issue that is specific to Zowe Explorer, you can submit an issue against the vscode-extension-for-zowe repository.

Community resources

• Slack channel

  Join the # zowe-explorer Slack channel to ask questions, propose new ideas, and interact with the Zowe community.

• Zowe Explorer squad meetings

  You can join one of the Zowe Explorer squad meetings to get involved.

• Zowe Blogs on Medium

  Read a series of blog articles about Zowe on Medium to explore use cases, best practices, and more.

• Community Forums

  Look for discussion on Zowe topics on the Open Mainframe Project Community Forums.