Global software and services company, Macro 4, is introducing three new Eclipse plug-ins as part of a strategy to integrate its mainframe tools with the Eclipse IDE (Integrated Development Environment).

The new solutions, which build on the M4Workbench Eclipse framework and plug-ins announced in 2011, help developers to perform a wide range of mainframe application development and testing tasks from within Eclipse without having to directly access the mainframe environment.

The new z/Explorer for Eclipse plug-in provides an editing capability for mainframe files and allows users to submit jobs and access the JES spool to view results in the job output. An additional plug-in, M4Slickedit, offers the option of formatted smart program code editing to aid developer productivity.

As part of Macro 4’s comprehensive Eclipse development for its TraceMaster interactive testing and debugging tool, a new tracing plug-in lets users set up batch traces in Eclipse, prior to launching an integrated browser window to run the traces.

“We already supply a number of Eclipse plug-ins, including a dump analysis tool that developers can use to analyze application program faults, so with the new products – and our M4workbench Eclipse framework - we’re able to offer a broad range of functionality for Eclipse development,” explained Jim Allum, Director, Commercial and Technical.

Eclipse is a key focus area for Macro 4 because its modern graphical user interfaces (GUIs) help enhance productivity and enable familiar, ’Windows-style’ access to mainframe technology that is playing an increasingly important role in attracting a new generation of developers.

About Macro 4
Macro 4 is a global software and services company that helps organizations to improve the performance of their business-critical applications and processes. The company’s solutions for document and data management, fault analysis and performance management are easy to use, fast to implement and deliver value quickly in even the most complex IT environments. Macro 4 is a division of UNICOM Global, which operates in every major market worldwide via US and European subsidiaries and a network of international business partners.

Macro 4’s fault analysis and debugging solutions help users to test new mainframe applications more thoroughly, correct faults faster and keep applications up and running for longer. Easy-to-use graphical user interfaces accelerate individual and team problem solving and can reduce the time taken to fix application errors by 50%.