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What's new in IBM z/OS Debugger 15.0.3

  
15.0.3 is now released for IBM z/OS Debugger! In addition to many fixes (18 APARs between host and client), this release has some key new features:

z/OS 2.5

As always, I am pleased to report that z/OS Debugger continues to provide Day-1-Support, and will run on z/OS 2.5.  See the announce letter for details on z/OS 2.5.

IBM Open Enterprise SDK for Go

As part of our commitment to supporting compiled languages on z, you can now debug Go on z/OS programs compiled with IBM Open Enterprise SDK for Go 1.16 using Debug Tool compatibility mode.   For more information, see my upcoming blog Debugging a Go program with z/OS Debugger and Debugging programs compiled with IBM Open Enterprise SDK for Go.

 

64-bit support

Remote debugging with Debug Tool compatibility mode continues to evolve and now supports playback for 64-bit COBOL programs. For the remaining limitations, see Limitations of 64-bit support in Debug Tool compatibility mode.
Be sure to turn on the playback toolbar in the Debug view:
So that you have access to the playback buttons during your debug session:

Source Level Code Coverage for COBOL

Code coverage for COBOL programs compiled with COBOL 6.2 and later can now be collected using the source instead of the expanded listing.  Collecting code coverage in this mode eliminates the need to post process the code coverage data when integrating with other tools such as using code coverage with ZUNIT and SonarQube as part of an automated pipeline. For more information, see How does z/OS Debugger locate COBOL source during code coverage, Starting and stopping the headless code coverage daemon and Specifying code coverage options in the startup key.
If you are using launch configurations to run your code coverage session, select the Use source for COBOL checkbox:
The Code Coverage tab of a launch configuration with the Use source for COBOL option selected.
You can also use the Source Lookup options on the Additional JCL tab if you have moved the COBOL source.
If you are using IDz property groups and generating JCL, a similar option is available in the code coverage section of the Run tab:
The source lookup option can be found on the Debug section in the Run tab of the property group.  Keep your eyes open for an upcoming blog providing additional details on  using source when collecting code coverage for COBOL programs.

Code Coverage Service API

The documentation for Code Coverage Service (CCS) RESTful API is now available for users to enable custom extensions. For more information, see Code Coverage Service API Documentation.

z/OS Debugger Profiles

The z/OS Debugger Profiles view continues to evolve. 
For IDz EE users, IMS Isolation profiles can be used to create a non-CICS profile and start a private regions with registered transactions for debug in one click.  As a result,  Remote IMS Application with Isolation launch configurations will be automatically migrated.

To use this function, ensure that the system programmer installed and configured the IMS transaction isolation extension for the ADFz Common Components server. We have also added support from the UI to configure the region name for the private region.  If you are unable to update this field, ask the system programmer to update z/OS Debugger to 15.0.3 or later, with the PTF for APAR PH38080 applied.  Check out my upcoming blog on Using IMS Isolation debug profiles to see how to create a profile and debug an IMS transaction in an isolated region.
The view also indicates the status of the Remote System Explorer z/OS connection, and the toolbar sports a new button to for logon and refresh the view:


Creating new profiles using an existing one as a template is easy-peasy with the new Duplicate Debug Profile context menu action:


In the Debug Profile Editor, now has a new button, allowing you to save a profile without activating it:


The Debug Profile editor will now also warn you if you create a profile that is too generic (and may result in z/OS Debugger triggering unexpectedly and consume unnecessary resources):
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These warnings can be disabled in the debug preferences:
If you try to activate a generic profile, you will also see similar warning message which you can choose to ignore:

Debug Profile Service

We have reduced the number of ports required by Debug Profile Service and you now only need to expose one port. A new configuration switch is added to eqaprof.env to select whether to use HTTP or secure HTTPS protocol. For more information, see Customizing with the sample job EQAPRFSU.

z/OS Debugger Commands

Remote debugging now supports the following commands for use in the Debug Console view:
Several step and a jumpto command issued in the Debug Console view

Dark Theme

Remote debug and code coverage user interfaces have been enhanced to support the Eclipse Dark Theme.  Welcome to the dark side!
IDz debug users will appreciate the debug experience integrated with the IDz supplied language editors:
A debug sesion in IDz with the COBOL language editor showing a variable hover.

IDz debug users will also appreciate updates to Visual Debug's dark theme

Debug session in IDz with Visual Debug enabled.
IBM Debug for z/OS users can also enjoy the dark theme, and will appreciate the updated Debugger Editor colors:
Debug session using the Debugger Editor
And finally, the dark theme for code coverage results was also added:
A code coverage result displayed in the dark theme.

Enjoy z/OS Debugger 15.0.3!