CICS Explorer

CICS Explorer® is an Eclipse-based system management tool that connects to either a CICS® Transaction Server for z/OS® system, or CICS TS for VSE/ESA system. CICS Explorer provides a way to manage one or more CICS systems, a view of some of the CICSPlex® SM functions in CICS TS, and a platform for the integration of future CICS tools. When connected to a z/OS system, CICS Explorer also provides an intuitive and secure way to view and edit z/OS data sets and zFS files, submit JCL, and view output and job logs.

One way to manage CICS regions is to use a variety of stand-alone graphical and non-graphical user interfaces, with no common way to complete tasks. CICS ExplorerCICS Explorer provides a set of CICSPlex SM functions to manage CICS regions, and a platform on which CICS tools that are integrated in the Eclipse Rich Client Platform (RCP) can present tasks and information in a common way.

CICS Explorer connects to either a CICSPlex SM WUI server (CICS TS for z/OS only) or a single CICS region. When connected to a CICSPlex SM WUI server, CICS Explorer operations views provide a single-system image of all the CICS resources in a CICSplex. When CICS Explorer is connected to a CICS TS for z/OS Version 4 or later CICS system, you can use the operations views for the following actions:
  • Enabling and disabling resources
  • Opening and closing resources
  • Acquiring and releasing resources
  • Placing resources in and out of service
  • Purging tasks that are associated with a resource
  • Discarding resource definitions from a CICS system where they are installed

When CICS Explorer is connected to a z/VSE® 5.1 or later system, you can browse resources. When CICS Explorer is connected to a z/VSE 6.1 or later system, you can also process information about specific supported resources. For details, see IBM Systems Products and Components - z/VSE.

When CICS Explorer is connected to a CICS TS for z/OS Version 3 system, you can only browse the resources.

The CICS Explorer definition views display details of the CICS and CICSPlex SM resource definitions. When CICS Explorer is connected to a CICS TS for z/OS Version 4 or later CICSPlex SM WUI, you can use the definition views and the resource editor for the following actions:
  • Displaying resource definitions
  • Creating and updating resource definitions
  • Installing or removing resource definitions

The CICS Explorer resource editor displays the resource definition attributes in one or more pages in the editor. The Attributes page displays the attributes in tabular form, grouped in the same way as they appear in CEDA or the CICSPlex SM WUI so that they are familiar to CICS users with experience of these systems. Other pages display the attributes grouped logically, with additional detail provided for each attribute to simplify the update process for less-experienced CICS users. Every attribute benefits from field-level verification, where the entry is validated in real time. Errors are identified by the Error icon, which identifies the field in error and the page on which the field appears.

The CICS Explorer z/OS perspective provides an intuitive and secure way to view and edit z/OS data sets and zFS files, submit JCL, and view output and job logs. The default perspective consists of three views that provide z/OS information: The Data Sets view, the Jobs view, and the z/OS UNIX Files view. You can use these views to view, edit, and submit JCL data sets and other text files. The Console view provides a history of your actions, such as submitting a job, or changing and saving a file.

CICS Explorer includes context and more detailed help for the resource views and help about using CICS Explorer and the basic Eclipse functions. Detailed help for CICS TS and CICSPlex SM is provided in the CICS Transaction Server for z/OS product documentation.

Next steps

If you are new to the Eclipse interface, see Introduction to Eclipse.

If you are familiar with the Eclipse interface, for information about how you to use the CICS Explorer, see Basic tutorial. Alternatively, use the search facility to find specific information in this help.

For more information about CICS TS for z/VSE, see IBM Systems Products and Components - z/VSE on the IBM® Systems website and CICS Transaction Server for z/VSE product documentation.