Installing Zowe Explorer

The Zowe Explorer extension for Visual Studio Code (VS Code) modernizes the way developers and system administrators interact with z/OS mainframes, and lets you interact with data sets, USS files, and jobs.

For a better understanding of Zowe Explorer, review the various reference materials that document the VS Code extension.

About Zowe Explorer

• Check out Zowe release notes to learn about the latest Zowe Explorer updates.

• If you have a question, review the Zowe Explorer FAQs, which answer the most commonly asked questions about Zowe Explorer.

Installing and configuring

• Review the system requirements and steps for installing the Zowe Explorer in Installing Zowe Explorer.

• Learn how to create and work with Zowe Explorer profiles. A profile enables you to connect to services running on a mainframe, integrate with the API Mediation Layer, and more.

Getting the most out of Zowe Explorer

• Review Using Zowe Explorer to go over how to use Zowe Explorer in a remote environment and managing credentials.

• Learn how to extend Zowe Explorer to introduce new functionalities.

• Add CICS functionality and the FTP protocol to the Zowe Explorer VS Code extension with the Zowe Explorer CICS Extension and the Zowe Explorer FTP Extension.

• Check out the Zowe Explorer GitHub repository to view the source code for Zowe Explorer and other Zowe Explorer-related extensions.

• Watch the following videos to learn how to get started with Zowe Explorer, and work with data sets:

Contributing to Zowe Explorer

• Review the Contribution Guidelines for a summary of conventions and best practices for development of the Visual Studio Code Extension for Zowe.

Zowe Explorer community resources

The Zowe ecosystem is more than a collection of applications and extensions. An entire community exists to work on enhancements, help answer questions, and discuss plans for the future of the open source project.

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

• You can join Zowe Explorer squad meetings to get involved. The meeting schedule is posted in the Zowe calendar.

• Read informative blog posts about Zowe on Medium to explore use cases, best practices, and more.

• Discuss Zowe topics in the Open Mainframe Project community forums.

• If you have an issue that is specific to Zowe Explorer, you can submit an issue in the zowe-explorer-vscode repository on GitHub.

Zowe Conformance Program

Administered by the Open Mainframe Project, the Zowe Conformance Program aims to give users the confidence that when they use a product, app, or distribution that leverages Zowe, they can expect a high level of common functionality, interoperability, and user experience.

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 Explorer, you are encouraged to get certified today.

Read the blog post Zowe Conformance Program Explained for more details about the Conformance Program, including useful references.