The Zowe CLI Plug-in for IBM® CICS® lets you extend Zowe CLI to interact with IBM CICS programs and transactions. The plug-in uses the IBM CICS Management Client Interface (CMCI) API to achieve the interaction with CICS. For more information, see CICS management client interface on the IBM Knowledge Center.
As an application developer, you can use the plug-in to perform various CICS-related tasks, such as the following:
- Deploy code changes to CICS applications that were developed with COBOL.
- Deploy changes to CICS regions for testing or delivery.
- Automate CICS interaction steps in your CI/CD pipeline with Jenkins Automation Server or TravisCI.
For more information about general development guidelines and CICS plug-in specific information, see the Contribution Guidelines.
Tip: Follow the tutorials on the documentation site to start developing your first plug-in!
Before you install the plug-in, meet the following prerequisites:
-
Install Zowe CLI on your PC.
Note: For more information, see Installing Zowe CLI.
-
Ensure that IBM CICS Transaction Server v5.2 or later is installed and running in your mainframe environment.
-
Ensure that IBM CICS Management Client Interface (CMCI) is configured and running in your CICS region.
Follow these steps:
-
The first time that you download the Zowe CLI plug-in for CICS from the GitHub repository, issue the following command against the local directory:
npm install
The command installs the required Zowe CLI Plug-in for CICS dependencies and several development tools. When necessary, you can run the task at any time to update the tools.
-
To build your code changes, issue the following command:
npm run build
Note: When you update
package.json
to include new dependencies, or when you pull changes that affectpackage.json
, issue thenpm update
command to download the dependencies.
Follow these steps:
-
Meet the prerequisites.
-
Install the plug-in:
zowe plugins install @zowe/cics@latest
Note: The
latest
npm tag installs a version of the product that is intended for public consumption. You can use different npm tags to install other versions of the product. For example, you can install with the@daily
tag to try new features that have not been fully validated. For more information about tag usage, see NPM Tag Names. -
(Optional) Verify the installation:
zowe plugins validate @zowe/cics
When you install the plug-in successfully, the following message displays:
Validation results for plugin 'cics': Successfully validated.
Tip: When an unsuccessful message displays, you can troubleshoot the installation by addressing the issues that the message describes. You can also review the information that is contained in the log file that is located in the directory where you installed Zowe CLI.
You can create a cics
user profile to avoid typing your connection details on every command. A cics
profile contains the host, port, username, and password for the IBM CMCI server of your choice. You can create multiple profiles and switch between them as needed.
Follow these steps:
- Create a CICS profile:
The result of the command displays as a success or failure message. You can use your profile when you issue commands in the cics command group.
zowe profiles create cics <profile name> <host> <port> <user> <password>
Tip: For more information about the syntax, actions, and options, for a profiles create command, open Zowe CLI and issue the following command:
zowe profiles create cics -h
For information about running automated, unit, and system and integration tests using the plug-in, see Zowe CLI Plug-in Testing Guidelines.
Follow these steps:
- To uninstall the plug-in from a base application, issue the following command:
zowe plugins uninstall @zowe/cics
After the uninstallation process completes successfully, the product no longer contains the plug-in configuration.