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Working with Z Data Tools
Z Data Tools Service Provider for z/OS® Connect Enterprise Edition
Z Data Tools Service Provider for IBM® z/OS® Connect Enterprise Edition enables client applications to access IBM Z data sources using z/OS Connect.
Creating z/OS® Connect APIs
Installing the z/OS® Connect EE API Editor into your Eclipse environment adds a perspective that allows you to create a z/OS Connect EE API Project.

Working with Z Data Tools
- Z Data Tools overview
- Getting started with Z Data Tools
- Viewing and changing data sets
  To view data stored in a supported data set, use the View Utility or the Edit Utility.
- Creating and editing templates
  For many tasks performed with Z Data Tools, you can manipulate your view of a data set by applying a template.
- Working with the Template List
  Display a list of templates and perform actions on them.
- Filtering records with templates
- Managing data sets
- Using Z Data Tools utilities
- Tape Specific Functions
- Disk/VSAM Data Functions
- OAM Functions
- Using UNIX™ System Services and the Hierarchical File System
- Introduction to programming with Z Data Tools functions
- Enhancing Z Data Tools processing
  You can enhance normal processing of a number of Z Data Tools tasks by supplying a procedure that runs in conjunction with the Z Data Tools process.
- Redefines criteria
  Redefines criteria can be specified for a field with a REDEFINES clause, or a field that is the target of a REDEFINES clause.
- Enhanced ISPF: Reference List, Search, Change, and PDSE Workbench
  Z Data Tools provides several enhancements to the basic facilities that are available in an ISPF session: Enhanced Reference List, Enhanced Search, Enhanced Change, and PDSE Workbench.
- Z Data Tools Service Provider for z/OS® Connect Enterprise Edition
  Z Data Tools Service Provider for IBM® z/OS® Connect Enterprise Edition enables client applications to access IBM Z data sources using z/OS Connect.
  - Methods for accessing IBM Z data sources
    Z Data Tools Service Provider supports two methods for accessing data: generic and specific.
  - Single reads versus multiple reads
    Regardless of which method for accessing data is used (generic or specific), the Z Data Tools Service Provider starts a Z Data Tools “view” session to read records from a given data resource.
  - Requests and responses
    The Z Data Tools Service Provider expects JSON payloads from z/OS® Connect-defined APIs representing requests, and passes back JSON payloads as responses to these requests.
  - Creating z/OS® Connect APIs
    Installing the z/OS® Connect EE API Editor into your Eclipse environment adds a perspective that allows you to create a z/OS Connect EE API Project.
  - Using the Build Toolkit plug-in
    z/OS® Connect provides a Build Toolkit (zconbt) for creating service archive (SAR) files. SAR files are used during z/OS Connect API creation to associate APIs with service providers such as Z Data Tools Service Provider.
  - Swagger documentation
    The z/OS® Connect API Editor automatically generates Swagger documentation during API creation. A swagger.json file is created within the API project.
  - Security
    The Z Data Tools Service Provider for z/OS® Connect EE requires an API caller to pass an HTTP Basic Authorization header that identifies the user ID and password of the caller.
  - Troubleshooting
    Use this information to troubleshoot Z Data Tools API request failures.
  - Example scenarios
    The following examples illustrate the sequence of Z Data Tools Service Provider REST API calls used to process some common file types under different scenarios.
- Function and panel reference lists

Creating z/OS® Connect APIs

Installing the z/OS® Connect EE API Editor into your Eclipse environment adds a perspective that allows you to create a z/OS® Connect EE API Project.

The z/OS® Connect EE API Editor is an Eclipse-based workstation tool that you install into IBM® Explorer for z/OS® to create REST APIs. Once the editor is installed into your Eclipse environment, a new perspective is available that allows you to create a z/OS® Connect EE API Project, using the File > New menu option.

The editor can be downloaded from the IBM® Mainframe Developer Center. Documentation for z/OS Connect and the z/OS Connect EE API editor is provided by IBM® Knowledge Center.

The API editor allows you to define the URL for your APIs, including path parameters and query strings. For example:

Defining a URL in the API editor using path parameters and query strings — Figure 1. z/OS Connect EE API Editor

Each API must be associated with a service. For Z Data Tools APIs, service archive files called zdtService.sar, zdtIMSService.sar, and zdtDB2Service.sar are provided for this purpose. The service archive files are copied to a location accessible from your Eclipse environment during installation of the Z Data Tools Service Provider for z/OS Connect (see the Z Data Tools Customization Guide).

Alternatively, you can create your own service archives (SAR files) using the provided Z Data Tools Build Toolkit plug-in.

During API creation, you must associate the API with a Z Data Tools service. Click the Service button and navigate to a Z Data Tools service archive file on your file system:

Associating the new API with the service archive file — Figure 2. Associating the API with a Z Data Tools service

You can map data provided by the API caller into the JSON request schema expected by the Z Data Tools Service Provider.

Generic request example: mapping data from API call to the request schema — Figure 3. Generic request example: mapping API data in the request schema

In Generic request example: mapping API data in the request schema, the path parameters for file name and template name, and the query parameter for timeout, have been mapped to the request schema. API creators can map as little or as much of the request schema as required. Whatever is not mapped must be provided in the HTTP request body by the client issuing the REST API call.

New APIs can be deployed to your z/OS Connect WebSphere Liberty Profile (WLP) environment using the z/OS Connect EE > Deploy API to z/OS Connect EE Server menu option.