Release notes for CICS Explorer Version 5.3.0.11

Copyright statement

(C) Copyright IBM® Corporation 2008, 2016. All rights reserved. For legal information, see https://www.ibm.com/legal/copyright-trademark

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What's new in this release?

CICS Explorer® Version 5.3.0.11 can now connect to CICS TS for z/OS V5.4 open beta, and includes the following new function:

For resources that have been installed from a bundle, a simpler method is provided to locate the originating bundle. To navigate back to the bundle that installed a resource, right-click on the resource and click Open Related > Bundle. This change enables you to quickly manage the state of the bundle and any installed resources. The advantage is you can remain within your context and looking at your resources while you carry out this procedure.

The version of z/OS® Explorer within CICS Explorer is updated to support importing certificates. Support is available for client certificate authentication from a keystore file on disk, or from a smart card. For more information, see Defining connection credentials and Managing SSL security and certificates.

For more information about the new and changed function, see What's new in Version 5.3.0.x in the product documentation or the CICS Explorer Help Contents.

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System requirements and prerequisites

For information about CICS Explorer system requirements, see CICS Explorer Detailed System Requirements.

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Installing CICS Explorer

For information about CICS Explorer installation options, see CICS Explorer downloads.

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Starting CICS Explorer

To start CICS Explorer, double-click the file zosexplorer.exe (zosexplorer on Linux or OS X), in a subdirectory called zosexplorer. The first time CICS Explorer starts, the welcome screen is displayed.

CICS Explorer uses a local workspace folder to save its data and configuration files. By default, the workspace folder is called .zosexplorer and is stored in your user directory. If you upgrade to CICS Explorer Version 5.3 or later from Version 5.2 or earlier, a warning is displayed because data stored in your existing workspace will be automatically updated to a new data format when you use that workspace with the new release.

If you do not want to update your default workspace, start CICS Explorer with a different workspace by using the -data option to specify a new target path for the workspace. For example, to start CICS Explorer and create a new workspace in the location c:\my_cicsexplorer_workspace, use the following command:

C:\zosexplorer\zosexplorer.exe -data c:\my_cicsexplorer_workspace

For instructions to start CICS Explorer with a different workspace by using a CICS Explorer shortcut, see Changing the CICS Explorer workspace location.

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Getting started

The CICS Explorer help documentation is integrated with the product and also available with the CICS® TS product documentation. The help includes a basic tutorial and instructions to configure a connection. To display the CICS Explorer basic tutorial, use one of the following methods:
  • From the welcome screen, click the Tutorials icon. The icon names are displayed when you hover over them.
  • From the menu bar, click Help > Help Contents > CICS Explorer User Guide > Getting Started > Basic tutorial.

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Known issues and limitations

The following limitations exist in CICS Explorer Version 5.3.0:
  • For most CICS resource table views, the Properties view is not populated with data. To view the properties of a resource, double-click the record in the resource table view to display the attributes in an editor.
  • For a Java™ application in a Liberty or OSGi JVM server that is running a Java 7 or 7.1 JVM, the following error messages might occur if applications are built by using a Java 1.8 compiler:
    • CICS log:
      • DFHSJ0904 date time applid ???? CJSA DFHSJTHP Exception 'com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.webapp.WebAppErrorReport: javax.servlet.UnavailableException
      • DFHSJ1004 12/02/2015 16:55:33 IYK2Z32E CICSUSER An exception has been thrown by the route method of class com/ibm/cics/router/Router running in JVMSERVER name. Exception 'Could not resolve module: name[26] Unresolved requirement: Require-Capability: osgi.ee; filter:="(&(osgi.ee=JavaSE)(version=1.8))" '.
    • Liberty messages.log:
      • "java.lang.UnsupportedClassVersionError: JVMCFRE003 bad major version; class=class, offset=6 com.ibm.ws.webcontainer.servlet.ServletWrapper.loadServlet 227" "javax.servlet.UnavailableException: SRVE0202E: Servlet [name]: name was found, but is corrupted: SRVE0227E: Check that the class resides in the proper package directory.
      • CWWKZ0404E: An exception was generated when trying to resolve the contents of the name. The exception text from the OSGi framework is: Unable to resolve IFileAdapter wrapping file with url wsjar:file:name: missing requirement org.apache.aries.subsystem.core.archive.OsgiExecutionEnvironmentRequirement: namespace=osgi.ee, attributes={},directives={filter=(|(&(osgi.ee=JavaSE)(version=1.8.0)))}, resource=IFileAdapter wrapping file with url wsjar:file:name!/name
  • To resolve this problem, you must change your Java compiler compliance level for each required project:
    • For an OSGi bundle project:
      1. Open the OSGi Bundle manifest file (META-INF/MANIFEST.MF) in the editor.
      2. In the Execution Environments section, select JavaSE-1.8, then click Remove.
      3. In the Execution Environments section, click Add, select JavaSE-1.7, then click OK.
      4. Export the project again.
    • For a dynamic web project:
      1. Right-click the project, then click Properties.
      2. In the Contents pane of the Properties window, click Project Facets, then select Version 1.7 for the Java Project Facet.
      3. Click OK to rebuild the project, then export the project again.
  • Important: It is a limitation of Eclipse that before you can revert to a previous version of CICS Explorer, you must have access to an update site that contains the source code for the previous level. You can download the update site source code from the IBM Fix Central website, at Fix Central.
  • The Eclipse software update function does not fully support Eclipse Update-Sites secured with HTTP Basic Authentication. If you are connecting to an Eclipse update site that prompts for a user name and password, do not select the option to save your password when prompted because CICS Explorer does not provide a method to change your password after it is set. If the password is not saved, it must be entered each time the CICS Explorer connects to the update site. If a password is saved and later needs changing, manual editing of configuration files would be required.

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