Clarity the Issue Command (e.g., Issue MVS Command)

[jelaplan]

Problem
We have a menu option named Issue Command. This option is vague. What kind of command might they run?

Solution

1. Rename the Issue Command menu option to Issue MVS Command.
2. Change the subsequent dialog to be clearer that is is a MVS command.
3. It would be nice if we could help them further with examples and how this might work.

[MikeBauerCA]

Similar to #802

[venkatzhub]

@jelaplan - I would start with what problem we are trying to solve, not sure that is spelled out.

[jelaplan]

@venkatzhub that is a good point. The Issue Command menu item is there to enable poeple to issue console commands which is a bit of a outlier for the other capabilities that exist. Accepting that, my intention is to make tactical improvements to the menu item so people have more context about what it does.

But, more strategically, we might want to think about why we included that menu option in the first place and look to tackle that problem in a more comprehensive manner.

[venkatzhub]

@jelaplan - the only worry I have is, we are piling up the tech debt :). The larger question is, how do we handle these strategic items to ensure we don't get into this kind of situation?

[jellypuno]

@jelaplan @venkatzhub Do you think that it would be a good idea to separate the Issuing of commands in another extension? So we can have a Zowe Explorer extension that is specific for firing MVS and TSO commands? Just an idea.

[venkatzhub]

@jellypuno - a separate extension is worth thinking about for sure. The other option that comes to my mind is to allow the user to launch a command "terminal" for the user to issue MVS and TSO commands to make the user experience similar to the CLI. (it is a CLI :))

[dkelosky]

Also related to #809.

Some users of Zowe Explorer are writing / editing REXX & CLIST. "Issue Command" will allow users to exec these programs from the command palette without having to use the CLI or 3270.

[phaumer]

My interpretation of the motivation behind this item always was to offer the ability to issue a command quickly even if the user does not have Zowe CLI installed; and perhaps doesn't even know what that is. I think clarifying this with the proposed solution steps would work for me.

Not sure extracting this into another extension will solve this: if I have to install another extension then why not install the CLI directly? Those VS Code dialog are terrible and my zsh has a much better UX. This menu is really for a quick ad-hoc command without switching context.

[dkelosky]

For me as a mainframe developer, I'd use the ad-hoc tso / console commands for listing my security profile via TSO ts list(userid) and for setting up the system for debugging via console slip set,en,a=svcd...

[venkatzhub]

@phaumer @dkelosky - MVS and TSO commands are different from Zowe CLI commands. When I say MVS/TSO commands are CLI, that is about how they are executed today, not saying that Zowe CLI would replace it. I also like the intent to have something that would allow this to work without Zowe CLI being installed.

It is good to know that the intent was to allow users to issue command quickly, and it is a nice goal, and the examples from @dkelosky are great, but is the user experience the desired one? The current user experience leads the user down the path of creating a command and then executing it, to have the output rerouted to the console down below - is that natural for someone to work with commands? From a UX perspective, that commands list will keep growing as the user adds more commands, and now we will be in the business of managing that list (delete commands, remove commands etc.)

Hence, I was wondering if having a "terminal" that allows users to issue MVS/TSO commands and have it behave like a CLI with persistence where the users can use the arrow keys to switch between the commands, copy the commands etc. would make much more sense? To satisfy the need of making it quick - have the panel be open in the Zowe tab all the time, and the user can go issue the commands without having to right click, create command etc.

[dkelosky]

Gotcha, I think Joe was asking for something similar in #809. We also had a shell concept in the CLI for running TSO commands before. Perhaps we could reintroduce that.

[JillieBeanSim]

addressed with PR #1230