π-day Friday release of TAZ 1.0.2
IBM Test Accelerator for Z (TAZ) is lucky enough to be able to have a great day, March 14, 2025, a.k.a. Pi-day Friday, to have a new product release, IBM Test Accelerator for Z version 1.0.2.
The new TAZ version 1.0.2 is available at Passport Advantage for download.
Full release notes are also available here.
Supporting out to the next digits of IBM Developer for z/OS (IDz)!
IBM Developer for z/OS (IDz) for Eclipse version 16.0.6.2 or 17.0.1 are both now supported for Early Development Testing for z/OS installation. IBM Developer for z/OS Eclipse support on 17.0.x is new for Test Accelerator for z Early Development Testing for z/OS with the TAZ 1.0.2 release!
Some points to highlight in IDz 17.0 for Eclipse:
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- IDz 17.0 is built on Eclipse 4.31, with support for Java 17, and IBM Explorer for z/OS Aqua 3.4.
- Support for client installation by using IBM Installation Manager is removed and the client is installed using the Eclipse p2 provisioning platform.
- IDz z/OS Automated Unit Testing Framework (ZUnit) which was deprecated is now removed.
- Support for IBM Dependency Based Build 3.0 to perform user builds with the new zBuilder DBB framework.
- Many Db2 for z/OS Development tooling enhancements
- … much much more across z/OS Explorer and Debug
This is also only a small highlight of everything new and exciting for the totality of IBM Developer for Z, so make sure to check out the IDz 17 blog
More on IDz 17.0.1 here .
More on IDz 16.0.6 here .
Don’t forget the host updates! Note that the new version of Test Accelerator for Z 1.0.2 across the components requires installing IBM z/OS Debugger 16.0.6.2 or 17.0.1 host PTF to get full benefits. See Fix List for more details.
New Instance Controller On-Demand Dev and Test environment for z/OS
The new On-Demand Dev and Test environment for z/OS (ODTz) Instance Controller provides target environments with an additional web based application for end-users to manage their z/OS instances that were provisioned by the ODTz tooling.
From the On-demand Dev and Test environment for z/OS tooling interface, a button has been added to access the instance controller. Clicking this will open it in a new browser tab.
The On-demand Dev and Test environment for z/OS instance controller login page will appear, running on the Linux target environment. From here you can login using your Linux credentials used to provision the z/OS instance.
The On-demand Dev and Test environment for z/OS instance controller page will appear showing details and the status of z/OS. If z/OS is not running then there will be an action to start it.
If z/OS is running then there will be an action to stop it.
Testing enhancements for IBM Information Management System (IMS): Early Development Testing for z/OS, Unit testing with IMS COBOL ENTRY statement support.
“Early Development Testing for z/OS now supports COBOL programs which are entered via an ENTRY statement, with the exception of CICS programs. This enables support for common programming patterns, like ENTRY 'DLITCBL' for IMS programs.”
With this support, ENTRY statement is supported for IMS COBOL programs.
Enterprise COBOL for z/OS ENTRY statement for 6.4 https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/cobol-zos/6.4?topic=statements-entry-statement establishes an alternate entry point into a COBOL called subprogram.
When a CALL statement that specifies the alternate entry point is executed in a calling program, control is transferred to the next executable statement following the ENTRY statement.
Note that ENTRY can’t be nested, cannot use a return value using the PROCEDURE DIVISION RETURNING phrase, the programs must be compiled with LP(32) (the default) and run under AMODE(31) , and not if there are ENTRY statements entered using dynamic call or via procedure pointer.
For Test Accelerator for Z 1.0.2, Early Development Testing COBOL Unit Test support:
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- Batch main and sub-program applications with ENTRY statements is supported.
- IMS BMP applications with an ENTRY DLITCBL statement is supported.
- IMS TM applications with an ENTRY DLITCBL statement is supported.
- CICS ENTRY statements is not yet supported.
- IMS BMP applications with multiple ENTRY statements is not yet supported.
- IMS TM applications with multiple ENTRY statements is not yet supported.
- An ALIAS that has different name from ENTRY statement is not supported.
Recording, before the test creation, now available in Early Development Testing (including Unit Test and Early Integration Test)
The new release provides a new recording-centric workflow that allows the creation of recordings, without having to create a test case. You can then create test cases at any time from the existing recordings. This flow matches the Integration Test Builder for z/OS workflow for enabling recording before building tests.
This new workflow exists in addition to the previous test case-first workflow, so it is user’s choice.
The New→ z/OS Recording wizard allows you to create recordings for Batch jobs, CICS transactions, and IMS transactions.
The New->Early Development Test Cases(s)… wizard then makes a copy of the recording that allows you to create a singular Early Integration Test that incorporates the entirety of the recording, or one or more Unit Tests created per-program encountered.
What else is new in IBM Test Accelerator for Z 1.0.2
There are a lot more improvements in TAZ 1.0.2, such as:
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- Integration Test Builder for z/OS changes included Dynamic Distribution for the Galasa versions, support for multiple programs in itbz-config.yaml, and new sample configuration files provided when generating a new Galasa project.
- Early Development Testing (including Unit Test and Early Integration Test) changes also included recording a Unit or Early Integration Test for CICS, a different user than the profile owner can be specified for the debug profile.
Check the What’s New for TAZ 1.0.2 documentation for more!
Links and Related
IBM Test Accelerator for Z 1.0.2
Release notes
Documentation
Download from Passport Advantage (PPA)
Related Documentation and Blogs
Earlier IBM Test Accelerator for Z blog posts
random fact: The first 102 digits of pi (π) are 3.1415926535897932384626433832795028841971693993751058209749445923078164062862089986280348253421170679821480865132823066470938446095