Add more resource types

[JeffinSiby]

Discuss with CICS COBOL developers and other users which resources may be most beneficial for their use case in addition to the current 'Programs', 'Local Transactions' and 'Local Files' and implement them.

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1. Show tasks and provide the ability to kill/purge a task and filter by transaction ID vscode-extension-for-cics#110
   enhancement +1
2. Provide the ability to view DB2 Transactions #63
   enhancement priority-low +2
   
3. Provide the ability to view Library datasets (in external to CICS view) #43
   enhancement priority-low +2
   
4. Provide Enable and Disable functionality for Library resources vscode-extension-for-cics#251
   enhancement +1
   
5. Provide the ability to view Web Services #49
   enhancement priority-low +2
6. Add support for LIBRARY ressource #74
   Stale enhancement priority-low +3
7. Provide a tabular / list view of CICS resources #113
   enhancement priority-medium +2

[FALLAI-Denis]

Hi,

Add support for "LIBRARY" resources.

[JeffinSiby]

Hi @FALLAI-Denis, thanks for the request! We were wondering what the use case for "LIBRARY" resources is and what actions and/or attributes of these resources would you be interested in?

@Joe-Winchester FYI

[FALLAI-Denis]

Hi,

We want to use LIBRARY resources in test environments to activate on-demand versions of programs in development:

• the CICS test environment works with loadlibs declared in DFHRPL (they could also be declared by LIBRARY resources)
• the CICS test environment is permanent and shared by all project teams
• each member of a project team compiles (User Build) in a loadlib which is dedicated to the project, (the Db2 objects are common, and the Db2 PLAN contains all the packages, those of the programs in DFHRPL and those of the programs in loadlibs managed in LIBRARY, by playing on the VERSION parameter of Db2 precompilation)
• to perform a test, the project team activates its LIBRARY, its programs therefore become active (with a PHASE IN)
• at the end of the test, the project team deactivates its LIBRARY, it is the programs in DFHRPL which become active again (with a PHASE IN)

This is a solution that we are currently implementing as part of the switch to CI/CD mode on the mainframe.
This addresses the need to test User Builds triggered from a feature or hotfix branch in a Git workflow (Gitflow).

This allows us to save on the number of CICS test environments, while waiting for a solution to virtualize these environments, (probably Wazi Sandbox).

So we need a way to easily ENAble and DISable a LIBRARY resource, or query the status of a LIBRARY resource.

We also need to list the programs contained in a LIBRARY resource (which can consist of several loadlibs) to trigger the PHASE INs.

The declaration of the LIBRARY resource is made in an automated project initialization process, and its deletion is subordinated to the end of life action of the project.

[Joe-Winchester]

Hi @FALLAI-Denis , thanks for the library use case. @Rajpreetgill is implementing this at the moment and we have a few questions we'd love to run past you. Are you maybe free to jump on a quick webex where we can show you what's in progress and validate that our assumptions are correct for what you're thinking with the behavior ?

[FALLAI-Denis]

Hi @Joe-Winchester

Thank you for your proposal.

Unfortunately I do not master the English language well enough to be able to have a live conversation.

I suggest that we proceed by exchanging emails, or documents, at least initially, with the possibility of supplementing with a Webex session if certain points require demonstrations or more direct exchanges.

I can give you my work email if needed.

[Joe-Winchester]

Hi @FALLAI-Denis , my e-mail is [email protected] and Rajprett (who is the developer working on this issue) is [email protected]. If you can e-mail us that'd be great. Also I do speak a very little French, and I can a French/English speaker to join any calls we may have to help move this forward.
Merci Beaucoup !