What's new in this release?
Version 1.1.0.3 provides the
fix for CICS Explorer™, APARs IV19014, IV20931 and IV21373
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Updating an existing version of CICS Explorer
You cannot update to CICS Explorer version 1.1.0.3 from CICS Explorer version 1.0. You must delete
the previous release and install this release. If you have
any CICS tools installed, you must obtain the latest compatible version
from the download site, and reinstall the tools.
If you already have CICS
Explorer version 1.1 installed on your workstation you can use the Software
Updates function to update the code to the latest level, without having
to re-install the product. Instructions are in the task
Checking
for and installing software updates in the CICS Explorer help documentation. To
access the task from the main CICS
Explorer menu:
Note: When the CICS Explorer update is
complete you must follow the same procedure to update any CICS tools plug-ins that are installed
in the CICS Explorer.
If you do not, the tools might not work with the latest version of CICS Explorer.
APAR IV20931 includes a fix to the Java™ Runtime Environment (JRE) that is in the CICS Explorer compressed files for Windows and Linux.
The JRE will not be updated by the Software Updates function. To apply the full fix for APAR IV20931, you will need to
uninstall your existing CICS Explorer and install the new version, or install the new version of the CICS Explorer in a different location.
Your existing
CICS Explorer workspace is compatible with the CICS Explorer version
1.1.0.3, however when you start the new version of CICS Explorer you
might get the message: Unable to read workbench state.
To resolve the problem you must reset the perspective by clicking Window
- Reset Perspective on the menu bar.
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Downloading the CICS Explorer
If you are
developing a third-party application to run as a plug-in in CICS Explorer, or you are
developing a JCICS application to run in CICS, you must download the CICS Explorer SDK and install
it into an existing Eclipse environment. See the next section for
details.
You must select the CICS Explorer files for your operating
system:
- For the Windows operating
system
- cicsts_explorer_win32_v1.1.0.3.zip
- For the Linux operating
system
- cicsts_explorer_linux_v1.1.0.3.tar.gz
To download the CICS Explorer compressed file for Windows or Linux:
- Click the download link for the relevant operating system.
- In the dialog box that appears, select "Save" and save it in a
temporary directory.
- When the download is complete, extract the contents of the compressed
file to any writable directory of your choice, for example;
- C:\Program Files\Explorer on Windows
- ~/Explorer on Linux.
Ensure that the directory you choose does not contain any other
files.
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Downloading the CICS Explorer SDK
The CICS Explorer SDK must
be installed into an existing Eclipse environment. The filename for
the CICS Explorer SDK
is:
- cicsts_explorer_sdk_v1.1.0.3.zip
Important: If you are installing the CICS
Explorer SDK on Microsoft Windows 7, and Eclipse is installed in a
secured location, such as the Program Files directory, you must have
elevated administrator privileges before you install the CICS Explorer
SDK.
To
download the CICS Explorer SDK
compressed file:
- Click the CICS Explorer SDK
download link.
- Save the zip file in a temporary directory on your workspace.
for example, c:\temp on Windows,
or your home directory on Linux.
Do NOT unzip the file.
- Install the CICS Explorer SDK
into your Eclipse environment.
Note: If you get the message: Cannot
complete the install because one or more required items could not
be found, and you are installing the plug-in with Eclipse
version 3.6, select the Contact all update sites during
install to find required software checkbox in the Install
new software > Install dialog and retry the operation.
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Launching the CICS Explorer
To launch the CICS Explorer, locate and
double-click the file cicsexplorer.exe (cicsexplorer on Linux), located in a subdirectory called CICS_Explorer.
The first time CICS Explorer starts,
the welcome screen is displayed.
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Getting started
The CICS Explorer help documentation
is integrated with the product and includes a basic tutorial and instructions
on configuring a connection. To display the CICS Explorer basic tutorial perform
one of the following actions:
- From the welcome screen, click the Tutorials icon.
The icon names are displayed when you hover over them.
- From the main menu bar, click:
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Known issues and limitations
The
following limitations exist in CICS
Explorer version 1.1.0.3:
- You cannot install remote resources using CICS Explorer version 1.1.0.3.
- You can set your help search scope to search the CICS® TS 4.2 or CICS TS
4.1 information centers. Setting the search scope to include previous
version of the CICS TS information
centers is not supported and might cause errors.
- If you create an event binding using CICS Explorer version 1.1,
you must not modify the event binding using
CICS Explorer version 1.0. Modifying the event binding with
CICS Explorer version 1.0 might result in loss of data. You can however modify
an event binding that was created on CICS Explorer version 1.0,
with CICS Explorer version 1.1.
- The Eclipse software update function does not fully support Eclipse
Update-Sites secured with HTTP Basic Authentication. If you are connecting
to an Eclipse update site that prompts for a username and password,
you should not select the option to save your password when prompted,
because CICS Explorer does
not provide a method for changing your password once set. If the password
is not saved, then it must be entered each time the CICS Explorer connects to the update
site. If a password is saved and subsequently needs changing, manual
editing of configuration files would be required.
- Microsoft Windows users might see the
error: Error initializing mirrors for: jar:file: the
first time CICS Explorer is
started after installing a new plug-in. The error does not affect
the operation of CICS Explorer and
can be ignored.
- If you are installing the CICS Explorer SDK on Microsoft Windows
7, and Eclipse is installed in a secured location, such as the Program
Files directory, you must have elevated administrator privileges before
you install the CICS Explorer SDK.
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