We are exited to announce the availability of IBM® Developer for z/OS® on VS Code v5.5.0, delivering many new capabilities that the users have been asking for. This release includes major updates to the free Z Open Editor 5.5.0, adding language support for COBOL V6.5 and PL/I 6.2 providing currency with the latest compiler updates just released. We also improved the COBOL and HLASM language servers implementation of semantic syntax highlighting to now present highlighting based on parsing results. For example, for COBOL programs, the editor will now highlight which code will be compiled and which code will be ignored in conditional compilation statements, based on the conditionals defined in the code or as compiler options in ZAPP files. In addition to various bug fixes for all our languages, we refined how Z Open Editor tries to resolve JCL PROCs and HLASM macros by downloading them from z/OS based on user settings. The free RSE API Plugin for Zowe CLI was enhanced with new commands to do more in the terminal. You can now edit a file in the terminal and compare files through command line.

In addition to all these free updates, we are proud to announce two major new Advanced Features in IBM Developer for z/OS on VS Code for the IDzEE customers:

• Introducing IBM ZCodeScan: a linter-like experience for COBOL in Z Open Editor that scans program files for best practice violations and security vulnerabilities. Violations appear directly in the editor as well as the Problems view. Rule severity is configurable, allowing you to disable rules that do not apply to your project. The rule configuration file can be stored with your source code, making it automatically available in your build pipeline, where ZCodeScan's CLI can be used instead of the editor, ensuring compliance as part of your continuous integration process.
• Introducing the Data Elements view: described by some of our post-sales team members as the "most powerful productivity feature" in IDz for Eclipse, we are proud to add this capability to our VS Code extension. The Data Elements view provides a data table that lets you explore data elements within your COBOL or PL/I program files. It enables users to browse, search, sort, and filter data elements of programs and their copybook or include files. Variables are shown with length and offset and users can navigate to them inside the program or include file with a simple mouse click. Let us know what you think and which other features you want us to add to this table.

We also enhanced our other advanced features based on user feedback. For example, the 3270 emulator can now be opened directly inside VS Code in a dedicated webview, in addition to launching in a web browser. The emulator also works with the latest enhancements around Zowe authentication utilizing tokens or credentials provided through environment variables. We also unified variable naming in ZAPP files between IDz on VS Code and IDz on Eclipse enabling teams to truly use both editors interchangeably. As a result, ZAPP files created in VS Code can now be reused in Eclipse for features such as property groups and user build.

As always, you can find the detailed changelog with everything included in this release on the Z Open Editor releases overview page.