Cannot access a dataset which is an alias

[closerthanmost]

I have a dataset on z/os, let's say my.dataset.clist I have lots of REXX members in this which vscode doesn't recognise as REXX because of the dataset name, so I have set up an alias of my.dataset.clist.exec to point to it.

When I navigate to the alias, I get the following

To Reproduce

Expected behavior

Show the members from the my.dataset.clist(.exec)

Screenshots

Desktop (please complete the following information):

• OS: Windows
• Zowe Explorer Version: v2.9.0

[github-actions]

Thank you for creating a bug report.
We will investigate the bug and evaluate its impact on the product.
If you haven't already, please ensure you have provided steps to reproduce the bug and as much context as possible.

[JillieBeanSim]

Hey @closerthanmost, sorry for the inconvenience of not being able to open the files using an alias with Zowe Explorer. It looks like the original issue was the files weren't recognized as REXX in the dataset before you changed to an alias. VS Code has ways to change the syntax highlighting of files that are being recognized as something else, this will require having a VS Code extension with REXX LSP for the REXX option to show in the language selection list.
VSC status bar:

Command Pallet:

Next screen after one of above with language selection:

The issue with using an alias will need to be investigated. If you can recreate, it would help to have as much info as possible for recreation steps and if you could share an image of the error in screen shot expanded to see full error that would help.
Thanks 😄

upd:
I see that you have the ZE version shown as 2.9.0. Are you able to update to the latest 2.14.0 to see if the issue persists?

[zFernand0]

Hey all,
I just wanted to provide some details on the current level of support in terms of aliases for bot the CLI and Zowe Explorer (ZE)
You won't believe what I discovered! 😋 (a bit of clickbait to peek your interest😉)

Following CRUD:

Create

• CLI cannot create aliases
• ZE cannot create aliases
  • Note:
    Both will need to submit IDCAMS since ZOSMF does not support creating

Read

• Partitioned Data Set
  • CLI can list all members
  • ZE cannot open aliases of a PDS since it considers them as binary files
    • This is the scenario that @closerthanmost is experiencing in this issue
• PDS(member)
  • CLI can view the contents
  • ZE cannot view the contents (since it can't open it)
• Sequential Data Set
  • CLI can read the contents
  • ZE can read the contents

Update

• Same as Read
  • Contents are updated on the target (linked dataset)
  • Note:
    If the Alias is being browsed on the 3270 (or opened by a running job in non-shared mode) you will see the following error message when trying to make updates to an aliased dataset. This applies to both, CLI and Zowe Explorer.
    

Delete

• CLI cannot delete with regular REST API (nor with VSAM APIs)
  • CLI is able to delete it as a z/OS File System 😮
    • zowe files del zfs USERID.ALIAS
• ZE cannot delete with currently used REST API
• Note:
  Here is the error that comes back with the regular APIs

    category: 4
    rc:       8
    reason:   0
    message:  LMERASE error
    details: 
    	- ISRZ002 Alias name not supported - LMERASE service does not support erasing alias data sets.
  

[zFernand0]

Opened the following issue for better support across the board:

• Add support for handling *ALIAS data sets zowe-cli#2052