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Status Future consideration
Workspace IBM Developer for z/OS
Categories VSCODE
Created by Guest
Created on Sep 4, 2025

RELATED IDEAS

IDz on VS Code display of some DBCS characters incorrect in JCL Editor

The versions we used were:

VS Code: 1.103.2 
Z Open Editor: 5.6.0
Zowe Explorer: 3.2.2
IDzEE: v17
Code page: IBM-937

Regarding VS Code, in another environment my colleague had tried a POC before and saw two indicators next to Chinese characters (such as “>>我是中文<<”), which could replace 0E/0F in 3270. 
I also tested with version 1.102.3 at the customer, but did not see the indicator. 
In addition, when my colleague installed it in our Beijing test environment, the indicator was not observed either. 
Unfortunately, we no longer have access to the earlier successful POC environment, but I wanted to record this here in case it might be useful for your analysis.

Regarding the configuration:

#_RSE_JAVAOPTS="$_RSE_JAVAOPTS -Dseqsosi.to.spaces=true" in rse.env

We understand that this Java option replaces 0E/0F with blanks, but when data is saved back to the host, these blanks (0E/0F → 20) are also written back. 
This may not fully meet our requirement (since 0E/0F need to remain on the host). Also, this Java option requires RSED to be installed, which is currently not available at the customer.
----------------------------------

Update from development

This functionality has been added to the COBOL and PLI language parsers. 
It is not yet in the JCL Editor in zOpenEditor. 
In COBOL or PLI, the SOSI chars would be replaced in the editor view with the (»«) chars.

Idea priority High
  • Guest
    Oct 29, 2025

    Regarding the comment on this RSE option usage mentioned in the Description:
    "#_RSE_JAVAOPTS="$_RSE_JAVAOPTS -Dseqsosi.to.spaces=true" in rse.env"

    - It is not for a single/standalone occurrence of SO and SI symbols. It is applicable for sequential (consecutive occurrences, one after another of the two symbols). Refer to this documentation:
    https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/explorer-for-zos/3.4.0?topic=file-defining-extra-java-startup-parameters-rse-javaopts
    #_RSE_JAVAOPTS="$_RSE_JAVAOPTS -Dseqsosi.to.spaces=true"
    Enable or disable the automatic replacement of the sequential SO and SI symbols in the content when opening a data set file in DBCS host encoding. The default is false.
    When the value is set to true, SOSI and SISO instances in the content will be replaced with spaces. It is to avoid a column shift left in display and read-only mode when the data set file is opened. The conversion is saved to the host only when users save the content explicitly. 

    - This option could be used for RSEAPI (with the described purpose), environment set in the base RSE. configuraiton's rse.env will be processed to be used with RSEAPI when startup, 

    Reply

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