Rational Developer for System z

Viewing a remote file

Use the View action to open a remote file in an editor without locking the file.

About this task

The View action opens a file in the System z® LPEX Editor, COBOL Editor, or PL/I Editor, but does not lock the file. The View opens the file in the default editor for that file. If, for example, you most recently opened the file in the System z LPEX Editor, then that is the editor in which the View action opens the file. You can make changes to the file while viewing it, but to save your changes you need to specify a new data set member name.
Note: To open the file in read-only mode, you can use the Browse action. To edit the file and obtain a lock on the file, you can use the Open or Open With action.

You can see the lock status of a remote file by looking in the Properties view for the file. A locked file shows a user ID in the Lock Owner row of the properties table. An unlocked file shows no user ID in this row.

Two screen captures from the Properties view of a remote file. The top image shows the value "USER33" in the Lock Owner field. The bottom image shows no value in this field.

Procedure

To view a remote file:

  1. In the Remote Systems or z/OS® Projects view, right-click the sequential data set or data set member name and click View. The file opens in the default editor. The Lock Owner field of the Properties view remains empty or, if another user has the file locked, shows the user ID of that user.
  2. Make changes to the file, if necessary. Some editor actions that require automatic saves, such as Save and Syntax Check and Refactor, are disabled when you open a file by using the View action.
  3. Close the file. If you have made changes, you are prompted to save the file by using the Save As window for the editor in which the file was opened.
    Note: Changes made to a file opened in the COBOL or PL/I Editor by using the View action can be saved to a local project only. The changes cannot be saved to a remote system or a remote project.
    See the related topics for more information about using the System z LPEX Editor, COBOL Editor, and PL/I Editor.

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