IBM Z Open Debug v4.0.0 introduces many new features and improvements upon v3, making it easier than ever to connect to a z/OS host and to debug z/OS applications. 

Integration with Zowe Explorer

Perhaps the most exciting new feature of Open Debug is the integration with the Zowe Explorer VsCode extension, which allows users to see and interact with z/OS Data Sets, Unix System Services, and Jobs on the z/OS host.  Upon installing Open Debug v4, which will automatically install Zowe Explorer as a dependency, the Zowe Explorer sidebar will now include a new view: z/OS Debugger Profiles. This view is where users now manage their connections to z/OS machines using Zowe Profiles, and also serves as a replacement for the old Open Debug Profiles view to create and manage Debug Profiles. We will go more in depth on this new view in a later section.

Figure 1: The new z/OS Debugger Profiles View as part of Zowe Explorer Sidebar

Previously in Open Debug v3, users could only define a single connection to a z/OS host that was saved in VsCode settings. However, in v4, z/OS connections are now defined as a Zowe Service Profile of type zOpenDebug in the Zowe Team Configuration File. Defining z/OS connections as a Zowe profile provides several benefits, including:

• The ability to define as many connections to different z/OS hosts at once.
• The ability to share connections as an SCM artifact
• The ability to store user credentials securely and not expose them to the client UI
• The ability to share user credentials amongst any Zowe Service Profile, effectively enabling Single-Sign-On (SSO) with any other extension using their own Zowe Profiles

Figure 2: Creating a Zowe Team Configuration File

z/OS Debugger Profiles View

Previously, Debug Profiles were created using a VsCode Webview called Open Debug Profiles view. However, this required users to enter a command palette command, which some found to be unintuitive and differing with how how our Eclipse IDE functioned. Thus, in Open Debug v4, although the Debug Profile editor remains as a Webview, the new z/OS Debugger Profiles View allows users to directly open the Debug Profile Editor from a native VsCode Treeview. In addition, due to the integration with Zowe that allows connecting to multiple z/OS hosts, there is enhanced editor support allowing multiple Debug Profile Editors to be open in order to create/edit multiple Debug Profiles at the same time. Let's break down the new capabilities:

Figure 3: Context menu of root Zowe Connection node

As mentioned, the z/OS Debugger Profiles View replaces the old Open Debug Profiles view so that Debug Profiles are now created and displayed in a native VsCode Treeview without having to use the Command Palette. You can open the Debug Profile Editor directly from the Cics/Non-Cics context menu, and created Debug Profiles will be rendered as children under these nodes.

Figure 5: Context menu of Debug Profile

Finally, each Debug Profile in the z/OS Debugger Profiles View has context menu actions to activate/inactivate the Debug Profile on the z/OS host, to delete the Debug Profile from the view, and to edit the Debug Profile using the Debug Profile Editor. A Debug Profile will also display some important filter values directly as children.

Debug Profile Editor Enhancements

There are a couple of note-worthy enhancements to the Debug Profile Editor. First, there are now buttons to both save, as well as save and activate the Debug Profile directly in the editor.

Figure 6: Saving and activating a Debug Profile directly in the editor

There are now also warnings in the UI that will warn users when trying to activate a Debug Profile that lacks important filters. This is to help prevent creating generic Debug Profiles that may cause unexpected debug sessions to occur on the host. This behavior can also be configured in the zOpenDebug VsCode settings page.

Figure 7: Generic Debug Profile warnings

Updated zOpenDebug launch.json configurations

To support the integration with Zowe, both the launch and attach zOpenDebug launch.json configurations now support a connection field allowing users to specify the name of a Zowe Profile to use to specify the host information where the Debug Session will be triggered. For more information on how to configure launch.json for zOpenDebug, see Launching and debugging your application with IBM Z® Open Debug.

Figure 8: New Connection field in VsCode launch.json

Migration from zOpenDebug v3

Of course, with all these new and exciting enhancements, we understand that it might seem overwhelming at first. Rest assured, included with Open Debug v4 is a fully automated migration process from Open Debug v3. Upon installing Open Debug v4 for the first time, users will be prompted with a migration notification that helps step through the migration process. Specifically, the migration includes the following steps:

• If there were any connection details defined in the Open Debug v3 VsCode settings page, users will be prompted to migrate the connection as a newly created Zowe Team Configuration File.
• If there were any debug profiles defined in Open Debug v3, users will be prompted to migrate these profiles to the new z/OS Debugger Profiles View.
• Users will be prompted to uninstall the old IBM Z Open Debug Profiles View extension, as it is not needed anymore. All functionality is now contained in the single IBM Z Open Debug extension.

Figure 9: Open Debug Migration notification

That's all for now! We hope you will be as excited as we are for all the new changes in Open Debug v4. To get started, see the documentation on Installing Wazi for VS Code.