Installing the Remote Resource Access API

Overview

This document describes how to install the IBM Rational Developer for System z V7.1.1.1 Remote Resource Access API technology preview. This technology preview is provided as an update and installed using IBM Installation Manager. The update is installed from a self-extracting .zip file that has been downloaded and expanded to a temporary location on your computer. You use Installation Manager to install the update from this temporary location. The following sections describe how to install this update.

Installation Prerequisites

This update requires that you have the following products and fix packs installed on Windows:
  • IBM Rational Developer for System z V7.1.1.1
If you disabled any product features by modifying the feature.xml files or through the Update Manager by clicking Help > Software Updates > Manage Configuration in the workbench, you must enable them before you install this update.

Workstation installation instructions

To install the Remote Resource Access API technology preview, do these steps. You should perform the installation using the same Windows account that originally installed the IBM Rational Developer for System z product. The account must have administrator privileges.

  1. Start the IBM Installation Manager and add the technology preview repository to your preferences:
    1. From the Installation Manager menu bar, click File > Preferences.
      File > Preferences menu item
    2. In the Preferences window, click Add Repository.
      Add Repository button
    3. Type the location of the repository directory of the technology preview package into the Repository field and click OK. For example, if you extracted the technology preview package to C:\temp\RemoteResourceAPITP\, then you would type the following path into the Repository field:
      C:\temp\RemoteResourceAPITP\RemoteResourceAPITechPreview\repository
      Repository location
    4. Click OK on the Preferences window.
  2. On the Installation Manager main window, click Install.
    Install option
  3. On the Install Packages window, select the check box next to Remote Resource Access API Technology Preview and then click Next.
    Select package to install
  4. Read the license agreement, select the radio button next to I accept the terms in the license agreement, and then click Next.
    Accept license agreement
  5. On the Install Packages window, select the package group in which you installed IBM Rational Developer for System z. The default is IBM Software Development Platform. The Installed Packages list at the bottom of the panel should show IBM Rational Developer for System z as one of the entries. Click Next.
    Select a package group
  6. Click Next to accept the default feature (Remote Resource Access API Technology Preview).
  7. Click Install.
  8. When the installation has completed, click Finish to start Rational Developer for System z.

Opening the Remote Resource Access API documentation

After you have started Rational Developer for System z, do these steps to open the API documentation:
  1. From the Rational Developer for System z menu bar, click Help > Help Contents.
  2. From the help table of contents, click Remote Resource Access API.
    Remote Resource Access API help

Using the API samples

To import the Remote Resource Access API samples into your workspace, do these steps:
  1. From the Rational Developer for System z menu bar, click Window > Open Perspective > Other.
    Open perspective menu item
  2. From the Open Perspective window, select Plug-in Development and click OK.
  3. Click File > Import.
  4. On the Import window, expand Plug-in Development, click Plug-ins and Fragments, and then click Next.
  5. In the Import From area of the Import Plug-ins and Fragments window, clear the check box next to The target platform and click Browse.
  6. In the Plug-in Directory window, navigate to the com.ibm.ftt.api.samples plugin and click OK.. This plugin is located in the install_path/SDP70/APITechPreview/eclipse/plugins folder of your Rational Developer for System z installation path.
    Select the plugin directory
  7. In the Import As area of the Import Plug-ins and Fragments window, select the Projects with source folders check box and click Next.
    Projects with source folders
  8. In the Selection window, select the plugin name in the left pane and then click Add and Finish.
    Select plugin to import
    The samples plugin is added to the Package Explorer.
    Package explorer with API samples plugin
  9. To see how the samples integrate with Rational Developer for System z, you need to define and start a runtime configuration.
    1. Click Run > Run to open the Create, manage and run configurations wizard.
    2. Double-click Eclipse Application from the list of configurations to open the new configuration page.
    3. In the Name field, type a name of your choice and in the Location field, type a location of your choice. For example, you might type Resource API configuration in the name field and ${workspace_loc}/../Resource API configuration to create a configuration in the current workspace.
    4. Click the Run a product radio button and then select com.ibm.websphere.developer.systemz.product.ide from the drop-down list.
    5. Click Run to start the runtime configuration.
    Create a runtime configuration
  10. A runtime Rational Developer for System z workbench opens with the z/OS Projects perspective. This perspective now contains a new menu called WD/z Samples. Some of the pop-up menus contain WD/z Sample Actions. The results of some of these actions are displayed in the Console view. For more information, see the descriptions of the samples in the Remote Resource Access API topics in Help Contents.
    WD/z Samples menu