PowerOn Pro is a Visual Studio Code Extension created to give developers all of the tools they'd need to efficiently write, run, and debug PowerOn code for the Jack Henry™ credit union core system, Symitar.

Resources

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Key concepts

PowerOn

PowerOn is a procedural language which provides a direct interface to the Symitar database. It offers record accessors which map directly to the Symitar Record Structure as well as some in-built utility functions to serve as tools when constructing a PowerOn specfile.

You can read more about PowerOn on the .

PowerOn Pro brings a complete language server, direct integration to Symitar, and an incredible UX to level up your credit union's development toolkit through Visual Studio Code.

This quickstart is designed to help you get your first Symitar connection created in the PowerOn Pro extension. Through this quickstart, you will learn:

• How to get PowerOn Pro installed

• Overview of some of the basic concepts of PowerOn Pro

• How to use a Remote Sym

If you run into any challenges or have questions getting started, please join our on Discord.

Installing PowerOn Pro

There are two methods for installing the PowerOn Pro extension.

1. Using the install link on the Visual Studio Marketplace (ref. )

2. Selecting the Extensions button ( ) in VS Code and searching for "poweron pro"

Getting connected to Symitar

Start by clicking the PowerOn Pro logo ( ) on the bottom left of the VS Code status bar. This will launch the PowerOn Pro menu for you to be able to manage your connections.

Next, select "Click to manage connections..."

Select "Add new Connection +" followed by either "SSH" or "HTTPs" depending on your connection preference and capability of your Symitar host.

Required input (SSH)

This provides a brief overview of each input box you'll receive while creating an SSH connection.

Once you've gone through the prompts, you should expect to see ( ) in the status bar of VS Code (bottom left). Anything different means you may have had an issue connecting or have only be able to establish a partial connection.

Required input (HTTPs)

Please refer to the Required input (SSH) for the context on the majority of the required inputs as they're nearly identical with the exception of the following:

Setting up a Remote Sym

From the activity bar (on the left-hand side), select the Symitar Explorer button ( ) and if you've already followed as well as the required dependencies installed on your machine, you should see the "Open Remote Sym" in the view.

Select "Open Remote Sym" and you should expect to see a menu giving you a selection from available Symitar connections.

After selecting the preferred connection, you will find a list of available Syms (based on the individual connections you've created) as a menu as well.

Selecting a Remote Sym here will automatically do the following:

1. Create a new directory ( /<symitarHostname>/<symNumber> ) using the configured Local Symitar Path as the root

2. Update the VS Code workspace at that local folder

3. Begin synchronizing the configured directories (e.g. /HELPFILES, /LETTERSPECS

TL;DR

All of the available commands within PowerOn Pro are listed on the PowerOn Pro Commands page and can also be listed by opening up the Command Palette (Ctrl + Shift + P) and typing "PowerOn Pro".

• To create a connection (SSH or HTTPs), use the Manage Symitar Connections command

• If you want to open a Remote Sym you'll need first set a root path in the setting as well as have both rsync and sshpass utilities via WSL (ref. )

This list is maintained in a best effort fashion and may not reflect all known issues.

Files disappear during Remote Sym synchronization

If you've set up your Remote Syms and are attempting to synchronize but the files and directories appear and disappear or just don't seem to appear at all, this may have to do with the fact that your WSL environment doesn't have write access to the mounted path you're using for the setting.

Updating the wsl.conf

Some users have shown resolved this by updating the wsl.conf in their WSL environment to include the following:

• uid - comes from running id -u in the WSL environment

• gid - comes from running id -g in the WSL environment

After making the change, you will need to restart the WSL environment which can be done by running wsl --shutdown and wsl to start it back up again.

Permission Denied

If you're seeing any sort of Permission Denied issue in logs or bubbled up through the notifications, this most likely has to do with you missing the SYM### group for the Sym you're pointed to for your AIX user.

Checking your groups

First determine whether or not you have the right Symitar group for the Sym you're trying to use.

1. SSH into the Symitar host

1. Run the groups command from the $ prompt

From here, you may be missing the SYM### which is what's causing the permission denied failure when we try to write to a subdirectory within the Sym. To update your groups, check out the next section.

Updating your groups

If you are indeed missing the target Sym group, you'll need to update it which will require elevated permissions. If you're on-premise, su or root should do but if you're with a data provider like , , or , you will likely need to reach out to them to perform the change.

1. Update using usermod

Be sure to check to make sure it was sucessful before retrying anything in PowerOn Pro.

At the time of writing this how-to, to use the Symitar Explorer - Remote Syms feature we require the use of common Unix utility called rsync to manage the local directories for each Sym which we refer to as "semi-virtual" workspaces.

Getting started

Now, we're aware that most of the Symitar developers out there are on a Windows workstation and rsync isn't something that's natively available. Sure there's technically a way to get it running using Windows binaries but fortunately for us Microsoft gave us the ability to install a Linux distribution of our choosing through something called .

Installing WSL

We recommend you follow the latest installation guide, , by Microsoft. The distribution you choose shouldn't matter as long as it comes with rsync already installed.

Installing SSHPass

In order to not prompt you 1,000 times while we manage the synchronization between your Remote Sym and local directory, we use another popular utility called . The following steps walk you thought how to set this up on Ubuntu.

Update & install via APT

Using , make sure your sytem has been updated with the lastet packages via the following commands:

• First make sure you're in your wsl instance:

• Next, from the $ prompt, go ahead and update your apt packages:

• After typing in your Ubutu user password, you should see something like the following:

• Finally run sudo apt install sshpass (if you've already installed, the output will look similar to the following)

Verifying the Remote Sym dependencies

After installation or if you have an existing WSL distribution you're working with, here are the simple commands to check if you meet the dependencies.

Is Rsync installed?

Run which rsync to confirm it exists in your /bin directory.

Is SSHPass installed?

Run which sshpass to confirm it exists in your /bin directory.

Company

Libum was founded in 2020 by two devs who ❤️ the credit union community. We are a hyper-focused and talented team with breadth and depths of expertise in bringing first of its kind, trailblazing solutions to credit unions of all shapes and sizes.

Contact

Want to submit Feedback?

Do you have a feature you'd like to see within PowerOn Pro? Well, we have a place just for that - head on over to our portal to vote on existing posts, or create a new post for that feature you really want or bug that needs to be squashed. Post your feature or finding and receive realtime updates as to where it is on our roadmap 🚀

PowerOn Pro comes equipped with several built-in VS Code commands this page gives the context for each one.

PowerOn Pro Menu

No matter what workspace you have opened, you can always click on the PowerOn Pro logo in the status bar () to launch the menu for the most common commands.

v1.6.5

• Add powerondemand snippet

• Add New PowerOn File... and New PowerOn Demand File... context commands

• Fix issue where Untitled documents couldn't use snippets

• Fix issue where Untitled documents threw various LSP errors

• Fix issue where VS Code would steal focus when updating webviews

v1.6.4

• Add rename symbol for defined variables and procedures

• Add unique key (for <record> with) completions

• Cleanup functions, keywords, and variables camelCasing

v1.6.3

• Add a useTabs formatting option

• Add a formatOnSave formatting option

• Add retries for batch execution polling on HTTPs

v1.6.2

• Add alignLogicalOperators to vertically align operators

• Add expandParentheses to place ( and ) on their own line

v1.6.0

• Add PowerOn Formatter (Experimental)

• Fix issue with Division and Do/End colorizers

• Fix issue where invalid User/Password on HTTPs validate wasn't captured

v1.5.11

• Fix issue where document references use Remote Sym first

• Fix issue where #INCLUDE files weren't being replaced for Offline Validation

v1.5.10

• Fix issue where #INCLUDES were spawning new SFTP channels

• Fix issue where validation diagnostics weren't updated for HTTPS

• Fix issue where divisions & system variables were tokenized in comments/strings

v1.5.9

• Add verbose client connector debug logs

• Fix issue where Remote Syms would deploy on implicit save with commands

• Fix issue where invalid PowerOns would appear to install successfully

v1.5.7

• Syntax highlighting hotfixes

v1.5.6

• Add function parameter descriptions

• Add completions to function parameter enumerations

• Add return types to function hovers

v1.5.5

• Fix issue where snippets weren't included in completions

v1.5.4

• Add new command Clone Sym Directory

• Add new command Compare with another Sym

v1.5.3

• Fix issue where Windows wasn't removing Remote Syms properly

• Increase frequency for Remote Sym download progress logs

v1.5.2

• Add support for SFTP to Remote Sym (WSL no longer required)

• Add update command for Remote Sym

v1.5.1

• Patch CSP for Webviews

v1.5.0

• Add dynamic download commands for Remote Sym workspaces

• Add file association setting for language flexibility

• Improve error handling across extension

v1.4.9

• Add reset for force disconnect on every Symitar action

• Add support for custom #INCLUDE paths

• Add #INCLUDE file for deployments during validation

v1.4.8

• Add a setting for force disconnection after 'n' hours

• Add custom .PRO and .DEF completions for #INCLUDE files

• Fix document references for #INCLUDE files in subdirectories

v1.4.7

• Add remote script execution timeout and PID cleanup

• Fix issue where validation from #INCLUDE file appears in primary PowerOn

• Fix issue with terminated batch reports for HTTPs connector

v1.4.6

• Add new file diff check between local directory and Sym

• Fix autocomplete issue with THEN keyword

• Fix Symitar command error handling

v1.4.5

• Fix definition links for #INCLUDE files and procedures

• Fix subfolder file deployments

v1.4.4

• Increase SSH fetch report timeout to max 60 mins

v1.4.3

• Fix pattern issue with FMPerform

v1.4.2

• Add a new snippet for PROCEDURE

• Update order of snippets in autocompletions to be first

v1.4.1

• Fix autocomplete issue with ELSE keyword

• Fix issue with warning expiration pattern

• Prevent autocomplete from rendering on initial spaces

v1.4.0

• Add auto-selection for PowerOn file type on deploy & install

• Add remote file listing for downloads

• Add batch report cache for in-editor viewer

v1.3.0

• Add notifications for batch completions

• Add multi-output support for batch execution on HTTPs

• Fix regression for multi-directory deployments

v1.2.1

• Cleanup DO and END highlighting

• Fix unnecessary UNTIL term in snippets

v1.2.0

• Add DO and END block matching

• Add DO and END semantic depth coloring

• Add configuration for batch reports (output, editor, or viewer)

v1.1.0

• Add cosmetic changes to subscriptions UI

• Update successful sign-in page

v1.0.2

• Updated webviews & subscription messaging

v1.0.1

• Fixed script path issue from restructure

v1.0.0

• Official release 🎉

• Add subscription UI to side bar

• Remove preferred case from defined variables & procedures

PowerOn Pro is the fastest way to develop on the Symitar core platform and we're barely getting started with its feature set. Check out what's available now and what's coming to PowerOn Pro in the very near future.

Syntax highlighting

Available • Treat yourself to beautiful syntax highlighting for the PowerOn language to help you visually interpret your code on any available VS Code theme.

One more thing, we know many of your PowerOn files may not have an extension at all. As you open these, we'll automatically detect the PowerOn language and keep record of the association for future use 😎

File icon theme

Available • Quickly visualize what type of PowerOn is in your workspace with simple and beautiful file icons that distinctly set them apart from one another.

Code completions

Available • Freely type away and let PowerOn Pro suggest completions for you. We've got you covered with completions for records, keywords, functions, and more!

Multi-document definitions & references

Available • Navigate between PowerOn files with ease. Any #INCLUDE you have referenced in a file will be available for you to jump to with a simple click (CTRL + Click on Windows, CMD + Click on macOS). We also support any cross-file variables and procedures.

Code snippets

Available • We've included a few code snippets to help you get started with some of the most common PowerOn constructs. Just type the snippet prefix and hit Tab to expand the snippet.

Hovers

Available • We've bridged the gap between PowerOn development and documentation by making various Jack Henry eDocs references available directly on the keyword, function, and any of the special literals of the PowerOn language as a hoverable.

Function signatures

Available • Remembering all of the PowerOn functions and their parameters can be a challenge for even the most experienced developers. We offer function signatures that appear as you type to display which parameter is next as well as what it's for.

Tasks

Available • With our syntax highlighting, we brought Docstrings to your PowerOn comments. Take it one step further by adding @TODO anywhere in a comment and we'll collect them for you to work through in a custom view.

PowerOn code formatter

Available • Enforce a consistent code style across your entire codebase by parsing and re-printing according to defined rules taking maximum line length into account and even case sensitivity.

Direct integration to Symitar (SSH)

Connect your Symitar core to PowerOn Pro and take advantage of realtime PowerOn validation, deployments, and batch execution from within VS Code.

Validate PowerOns

Available • Get validation feedback from Symitar as you save your PowerOn files.

Deploy and Install PowerOns

Available • Choose to deploy or install your PowerOns to your Symitar core.

Execute PowerOns and get batch output

Available • Run your batch PowerOns and get the output directly in VS Code.

PowerOn diagnostics

Plus / Continuous Development • Natively you have the ability to validate your PowerOn but this only identifies the breaking change starting at the top of the file. We've introduced diagnostics that will holistically display errors and warnings for your PowerOn for things like undefined or unused variables and even syntax issues.

This will continuously evolve as we map out all of PowerOn's behavior. For now we have support for undefined variables with unused on the way!

Direct integration to Symitar (HTTPs)

Plus / Available • Though the legacy SSH connection technically works, it's not 100% for every credit union and sometimes requires a few hoops to jump through to get it working. With HTTPs you connect directly to the Symitar Application Server to manage your PowerOns, LetterFiles, and HelpFiles.

Symitar Explorer

Plus • We provide a robust custom view in VS Code that levels up the integration between PowerOn development and the Symitar core.

Remote Syms

Available • We've created a semi-virtual workspace for you to freely navigate the LETTERSPECS, HELPFILES, and REPWRITERSPECS directories for any of your Syms.

Remote Syms - SCM

Coming Soon • Currently a Remote Sym is literally intended to be a "virtual" editing on your remote Symitar host. Meaning, as you make edits they're deployed and inversely it will periodically sync to stay up to date with what other folks may be deploying to the remote as well.

This technically means, that if you were to develop in ( ) there is a potential to clobber files you've been editing locally, the next time you sync. To mitigate this, we're introducing a light weight Source Control Manager (SCM) to run the incoming changes through a diff editor to better protect your copy that way you still get the latest and great but have better autonomy of what your local state is.

Reports

Coming Soon • We are basically combining and adding our flavor to the UIs you find in Batch Control and Print Control to give you an incredible UX while working with batch output generated from your PowerOns. You'll have the luxury of quickly navigating through your Symitar reports as well as even launch accounts in Symitar Quest directly from our views.

Embedded HTML language support

Plus / In Development • PowerOns with HTML are becoming the standard for creating rich user interfaces available in Symitar - encapsulating these with htmlViewLine can be a bit cumbersome so we're introducing the ability to write HTML directly in your PowerOn files with full language support. We'll handle the translation whenever you choose to deploy!

On-Demand PowerOn rendering

Plus / In Development • To satisfy our vision of being the fastest way to develop on the Symitar core platform, it made a lot of sense to support both sides (Batch + Demand) of PowerOn development. That said, we're building a rendering engine for on-demand PowerOns to display from within VS Code preventing you from having to launch Symitar Quest to see your code come to life.

SymXchange PowerOn Development

Plus / Coming Soon • Writing PowerOns for SymXchange typically involves a two-step process in order for the changes to reflect in your call:

1. Ensure the PowerOn is loaded in the SymX instance Common Parameters

2. Bounce the SymX instance device

This involves navigating through Symitar Quest and waiting for each of the UIs to load for you to perform the actions. With PowerOn Pro, we remove these requirements and handle the complete refresh lifecycle internally.

Job Files Manager

Plus / Coming Soon • Creating and editing Job Files in Symitar Quest can be a bit tricky given the strictly linear wizard-based UI. We have reimagined this user-experience with a beautiful UI and quite a few more controls to create / maintain these much more easily.

PowerOn Pro ships with a number of configurable settings to personalize your VS Code experience as you develop.

Auto Associate PowerOn Workspace

If more than 50% of your active workspace has known PowerOn file extensions, a file association for poweron on the path will be added automatically.

Auto Deploy `#INCLUDE` Files

Controls how #INCLUDE files are deployed when deploying a PowerOn (only for non-Remote Syms).

Auto Disconnect Sym

Controls when your active Sym connection should automatically disconnect.

Auto Validate PowerOn

Controls when the language server runs PowerOn validation. Useful if you like to validate your PowerOn file each time you save.

Batch

Batch related configuration options specific to the SSH connection type.

Fetch Report Timeout (SSH)

The maximum time to wait (min) for the completion of a batch PowerOn run.

Queue Override (SSH)

The batch queue number to use when poweronPro.batch.queueSelection is set to override.

Queue Selection (SSH)

Controls how the batch queue is selected for a batch PowerOn run. The available options will either use the first available queue, prompt you to select a queue, or use the override value set by the setting.

Report Viewer

Controls where batch reports are displayed.

Report Viewer Retention

The number of days to keep batch reports in storage when poweronPro.batch.reportViewer is set to editor.

CLI Worker Timeout

The maximum time (sec) to wait for the initialization of the Symitar CLI workers which is only used with an SSH connection type to Symitar.

Debug

Enables debug logging for the @libum-llc/symitar library. The logs will appear in the PowerOn Pro output channel.

Diagnostics

Real-time diagnostics configuration options which are triggered when the PowerOn changes in an active text editor.

Data Types (Experimental)

Plus Shows incorrect variable assignments as errors for PowerOn files.

Defined Variables

Shows undefined variables or procedures as errors for PowerOn files.

Unused Variables

Plus Shows unused variables as dimmed for PowerOn files.

Formatter

Configuration options for the PowerOn code formatter (Experimental).

Align Defines

Align = signs in DEFINE sections for table-like readability.

Indent Size

Number of spaces per indentation level in PowerOn code.

Keyword Case

Casing for PowerOn keywords, database records, and fields (e.g., TARGET, ACCOUNT, CLOSEDATE).

Max Blank Lines

Maximum consecutive blank lines to preserve within divisions.

Print Width

Maximum line length for PowerOn code before wrapping.

Section Spacing

Number of blank lines between major divisions (TARGET, DEFINE, SETUP, SELECT, SORT, PRINT, TOTAL, PROCEDURE).

Space After Delimiter

Add space after comma delimiters in function parameters (e.g., FUNC(a, b) vs FUNC(a,b)).

Space Around Equals

Add spaces around the = operator in assignments (e.g., x = 5 vs x=5).

Space Around Operators

Add spaces around arithmetic (+, -, *, /) and comparison (<>, <, >, <=, >=) operators. Logical operators (AND, OR, WITH) always have spaces.

Uppercase Identifiers

Uppercase all identifiers (variable names, procedure names). PowerOn is case-insensitive; some shops prefer all-caps for mainframe consistency.

Include Paths

Additional absolute directory paths to search for #INCLUDE files. These directories will be searched in addition to the directory of the PowerOn file being processed.

Local Symitar Path

Plus The root path where your local Sym directories are synchronized. This is a required field for the feature and it's recommended to set as a path not directly in a typical folder structure for projects.

Offline Validation

Controls whether a randomly named PowerOn is created, uploaded for validation, then deleted.

Preferred Case

Controls the case of keywords, functions, variables, and records. Additionally, you'll see this reflected in other relevant areas such as hovers and snippets.

Remote Sym SFTP Concurrency

Plus The number of files to download simultaneously when using SFTP sync for Remote Syms.

Remote Sym Sync Method

Plus Controls how Remote Syms are synchronized with the Symitar server.

• sftp: Use SFTP for synchronization (no external dependencies required)

• rsync: Use rsync for synchronization (requires WSL on Windows, rsync and sshpass installed)

SSH Port

The port to use when connecting to the Symitar host. For almost all cases this should be 22 but if you have port-forwarded and need the flexibility to use SSH over a different port, this is how you'd do it.