ChangeMan ZMF Plug-in for ZOWE CLI lets you interact with ChangeMan ZMF systems on the mainframe in a familiar zowe command line format. If you are already familiar with the Zowe CLI, you will find the ZMF Plugin-in very familiar to work with.

ZMF CLI commands can be entered and executed in a script written in Python (for example) to perform a variety of downstream business functions.

Pre-requisites

Before installing the ChangeMan ZMF Plug-in for Zowe CLI, the following pre-requisites are necessary to be installed. 

1. zowe cli 2 or later. When issuing the zowe-V command this will be reported as V7.x.x
   If you do not yet have zowe cli installed, follow the instructions found on the zowe website - Installing Zowe CLI | Zowe Docs
2. For Zowe 2, it is necessary to have a compatible profile. "Old style" profiles will no longer work with zowe 2. An article explaining zowe 2 profiles can be found here zowe 2 profiles If you have problems/question ceating a zowe 2 profile for use with ZMF, please post a comment in the Microfocus Community page. Sample profiles that you can adapt will be posted to assist in this process.

Installation

Download the ChangeMan ZMF Plug-in for Zowe CLI and save the .tgz file to a local directory of your choice. From that local directory, install the plugin using the zowe plugins install l command. where n.n.n is the version of the .tgz file downloaded.

zowe plugins install microfocus-zmf-cli-plugin-n.n.n.tgz

The plugin will be installed.
All ZMF Plugin commands use changeman-zmf as the top level group name - or the abbreviation of zmf and can be tested by issuing the following command to display ZMF CLI help

zowe zmf -h

This command will then display the next level of available ZMF command. this level always presents a verb - get, checkin, checkout etc. As with Zowe CLI, each level of subcommand has the available help option by appending the parameter. Example: zowe zmf get -h

As there are a number of ZMF cli commands available, To help in identifying the required parameters for each command,, you can generate web help by issuing the command:

zowe --hw This will generate all the help files and display in a browser. The location of the web help will depend on your platform. As new versions of the ChangeMan ZMF Plug-in CLI are released, you should regenerate the web help to pick up new documented features. See screenshot for sample web help.

Usage

Refer to the Changelog and the ReadMe located in the ZMF cli install library at homedir/.zowe/plugins/installed/node_modules/@microfocus for further details including setting environment variables.

Please refer to the REST Services Getting Started Guide and the browser based REST prototyping tool for details on the REST services. as the ZMF CLI uses the exact parameter format as defined in that Guide. Also refer to the ZMF XML Services Guide for more information on individual parameters.

An example ZMF CLI command :

zowe zmf browse pcomp -c CBLDB201 -t SRC -p STEV001571

where:

pcomp = Browse Package Component - the related REST service using the prototyping tool is /component/browsepackage
-c = Component
-t = Component Type
-p = Package

Alternatively, you my use the long form of the command:

zowe changemanzmf browse packagecomponent --component CBLDB201 --componenttype SRC --package STEV001571

Note that the fields are case sensitive.

The ZMF cli plug-in returns output to the screen. This will either be a string -.e..g. a source component, or a JSON object. Typically, using a script, the output would be piped to a local file and post processed.

A simple example python script screen shot can be seen above, which demonstrates retrieving a component and its associated copybooks and saves them to a local directory. Post processing of those files can then take place outside of ZMF.

An example :
zowe zmf get cbp -p STEV001571 -c CBLDB201 -t SRC
now becomes:
zowe zmf browse pcomp -p STEV001571 -c CBLDB201 -t SRC

If you wish to review the upcoming changes in zowe V2 please refer to Zowe
A major change in zowe v2 relates to profiles which will involve some significant but beneficial changes to both profile management and security. Also included with zowe V2 are potential performance gains.

For a complete list of all the ZMF CLI plugin commands and their parameters, run the zowe --hw command to generate online web help.

To regenerate online web help, issue the following: zowe --hw

V1.0.2

- Added support for a single persistent session to be established. This is achieved by issuing:
- zowe zmf session zl command. This will return a 200 if successful and a token generated.
- followed by some number of intervening commands. Token usage is transparent.
- finally terminate the session with a zowe zmf session zf command.

However, it is possible for such a session to time out which would invalidate the token. in which case a subsequent command would return a 401 error and a message of 'No Credentials".
This would then require a new zowe zmf session zl command to be reissued to establish a new token.

Support

Support for the ChangeMan ZMF Plug-in for Zowe CLI is available on the Micro Focus Community page for ChangeMan ZMF.

Please do not go through the normal Support channels for this component.