IBM® Test Accelerator for Z 1.0.1 released on November 22, 2024.
Don’t roast me for the delay; my name is neither Peach nor Blossom but please pardon me for being late!
All the new versions are available in Passport Advantage for download, now.
Gobble them up!
IBM Test Accelerator for Z (TAZ) 1.0.1 Release notes and documentation are out now too.
On Demand Dev and Test environment for z/OS
The z/OS Extraction Utilities, now in SMP/E.
On Demand Dev and Test environment for z/OS (ODTz) version brings a new service level of z/OS Extraction Utilities, used for making images. The z/OS Extraction Utilities, previously bundled with the On-demand Dev and Test environment for z/OS tooling installation, are now z/OS SMP/E installable and bundled with the other Test Accelerator for Z hosts components. They will need to be installed if you are extracting your on-premise z/OS environment as a custom image for use with On-demand Dev and Test environment for z/OS.
New features in ODTz TAZ 1.0.1
A new feature in On Demand Dev and Test environment for z/OS system residence volume component creation allows creation of the z/OS configuration under a specific high level qualifier (HLQ). On Demand Dev and Test environment for z/OS in TAZ 1.0.1 also improves performance with secure file transfers of data sets within an image during the provisioning process.
New image with ODTz TAZ 1.0.1
ODTz also shipped with an updated IBM z/OS Dev & Test Stock Image containing updates for IBM z/OS Debugger, IBM z/OS Explorer including z/OS Explorer API, and IBM MQSeries.
Import from elsewhere
Importing more with support for server detail artifacts for storage and license servers, as well as Users detail artifacts from a Z Development and Test Environment (ZD&T) v14.2.x, Virtual Dev and Test for z/OS (ZVDT) v1.4.x, or Wazi Image Builder v1.4.x tooling installation. When importing images, ODTz will automatically import components and source environment definitions too.
Dynamic Test Engine for z/OS
It is highly recommended to install or upgrade to the latest and best host Dynamic Test Engine for z/OS (DTE) updates via the 16.0.6 UI98962, UI98964 PTF for all of your DTE installs to get full advantage for Early Development Testing and Integration test building in TAZ 1.0.1. If you haven’t started with DTE yet, get started installing and configuring IBM Dynamic Test Engine for z/OS with help from the IBM Host Configuration Assistant for Z Development.
Early Development Testing for z/OS
Prerequisite: IBM Developer for z/OS update to 16.0.6
In order to get to IBM Test Accelerator for Z 1.0.1 Early Development Testing for z/OS 1.0.10 installation, first you should install or update to IBM Developer for z/OS 16.0.6 as a first step.
Once on IDz 16.0.6, don’t forget there were all sorts of wonderful new handy capabilities that you should check out in the new Eclipse-based IBM Developer for z/OS (IDz) 16.0.6 version, such as:
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Db2® support improvements like importing connection profiles from IBM Data Studio, deployment and debug of external SQL stored procedures, generating declarations (DCLGEN), autofill of prior parameter values when re-executing a query.
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Remote Connection Emulator LU name or LU group name if supported by the remote system Telnet server configuration.
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Job and MVS filtering capabilities improvements.
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UNIX support for editing files in IBM-1390 and IBM-1399 in text mode.
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Drag and drop and copy and paste functionality for exporting job spool to local, UNIX, and MVS file system.
Read more at Andrew’s post Giving Thanks for Innovation: IBM Developer for z/OS 16.0.6 Serves Up Hot Updates which has way more information.
Early Development Testing for z/OS 1.0.10 Eclipse plugin
Once you have IBM Developer for z/OS (IDz) 16.0.6, it is time to shine.
Setting up the new decorations: moving to EQA* PROCs and COPYBOOKs and TAZ* results transformers.
Among the updates that I haven’t covered before in a blog post is an important update to the PROC and COPYBOOKS in August when BZU* PROC and COPYBOOKs were renamed to EQA* in the z/OS Debugger 16.0.5.1 release of the Dynamic Test Engine.
Because of these changes, the EDTz Unit Tests that you have built before will need to be regenerated, rebuilt, and use these new EQA* files shipped with the new z/OS Debugger.
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The sample PROC provided, EQAPPLAY, should be modified as appropriate for the desired system.
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The COBOL COPYBOOK members EQADB2CA, EQADB2CP, EQADB2CV, and EQAITERC should be added to local projects as appropriate, or builds updated to point to the copies shipped with z/OS Debugger.
Along with the EQA* updates, in this release we updated the samples for exporting the test results to other formats! If you didn’t already know, EDTz enables easy transformation of the XML format test results. Move from the AZUZ2* to the new TAZZ2J (TAZ to Junit) and TAZZ2S (TAZ to SonarQube) XSL files and read more on what is in the ./taz-samples/xsl/ in the installation directory for EDTz.
Test Data Generation underwent some user interface upgrades as well.
Now you can more easily create a Test with Test Data generation, as there is no further need to go through the extra steps to first create a Duplicate Test.
When a test entry with recorded data is selected, simply invoke Start Test Data Generation from the toolbar icon or context menu of Test Entry view, and instead of requiring a Duplicate Test as the initial step it will create for you a temporary PathInfo. Selecting the temporary PathInfo entry, Generate Automatic Test from toolbar icon or context menu generates and imports test data and the temporary PathInfo entry is removed.
Read Generating Test Data and Automatic Test Data Generation for more information.
Integration Test Builder for z/OS
Integration Test Builder for z/OS VS Code Extension 1.0.3
Integration Test Builder for z/OS provides an amazing capability to quickly record a Functional test case and generate an Integration Test for the popular Open Mainframe Project Galasa. The VS Code extension for Integration Test Builder for z/OS has a latest version of 1.0.3 which provides an enhanced capability to customize your settings to work with Galasa.
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For increased usability, there is now an added a progress indicator on the VS Code status bar to indicate that there is a current recording process in progress.
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To make it easier at start, there are now more generated sample YAML files when the Galasa project is created; the directory structure is created along with sample ITBz configuration itbz-config.yaml, db2Config POLICY.yaml, and variableGalasaConfig .yaml files.
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The updates to itbz-config.yaml file brings new capabilities and enhanced user experience on test case generation.
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galasaTags is a new optional setting for Galasa tag values are then set in the generated test file. This can be used instead of the manual updates to the generated test files to speed up the record to run flow.
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localDB2Config is a new optional setting for the file name for local DB2 Config files, where the default name is POLICY.yaml.
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localBmsMapNames is the new setting name for the retired localBmsMapName and adds multiple BMS file support. Multiple BMS files can now be added. and used for test generation to recognize and test screen content and flow.
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The new localDB2Config file, default name POLICY.yaml, contains information about the DB2 table, columns, and cursors. This file is used to generate the DB2 assertions more accurately. Additionally, the added capabilities for recording and tests include support for multiple DB2 tables per transaction, and support for multiple primary keys in the DB2 SQL.
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The new variableGalasaConfig file adds support for renaming functions, test classes, and test files. The file name would match the interior value generatedName and is the name of the file and the name of the Galasa class. As an example, Ssp1ssc1drbm.yaml, represents the recordings of the transactions in the recording in order and this can now be changed from generatedName: Ssp1ssc1drbm to name: CustomerPolicy making it easier to manage.
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Serviceability additions with unique message IDs, logging on start recording operation to aid potential debugging, improved extension logging with Zowe profile identification and more error reporting for downloading files or starting a recording.
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Miscellaneous updates for GALASA_HOME environmental variable usage, Windows support for other than Windows systems with Subsystem for Linux or Git Bash, and CICS screen typed values.
IBM Distribution for Galasa 1.1.0
IBM Test Accelerator for Z has also upgraded the shipped and supported Distribution for Galasa (DfG) 1.1.0, based on the latest version of Galasa v0.37.0.
The new TAZ-shipped DfG 1.1.0 provides new capabilities and support for
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Galasa support of Java 17.
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Creating Galasa projects as well as building and compiling Galasa test code using Gradle version 8.
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Deleting a test run by using the galasactl runs delete command.
Also, the download size of DfG has been reduced significantly since 1.0.6, with removal of isolated.tar.
Other Galasa news...
Did you know? The Open Mainframe Project Galasa was nominated for the DevOps Dozens 2024 Award!
Read more below in the Bonus section!
Bonus: A Decade of DevOps Excellence: The DevOps Dozen Awards!
Learn more about the DevOps Dozen Award and read up on all of the community award finalists, with test practices and Mainframe DevOps well represented.
Please Vote! to support the leaders and tools making DevOps work for everyone.
Public voting is now open until December 31, 2024, and winners will be announced at the Predict 2024 Virtual Summit on January 9, 2024.
Be on the lookout for the Open Mainframe Project Galasa nomination, as well as the popular, now 12 part, series Day in the Life of a Mainframe Developer using Git Workflow.
Links and Related
IBM Test Accelerator for Z 1.0.1
Release notes
Documentation
Download from Passport Advantage (PPA)
Related Documentation and Blogs
DevOps Dozen Award 2024
Earlier IBM Test Accelerator for Z blog posts
