INITIAL Attribute

If you do not specify a mapping, the Plug-in renders the values in the INITIAL attribute, which supplies the initial values for a field. The PL/I compiler does not require that the constant type in INITIAL correspond to the field type. Instead, a runtime conversion occurs, possibly raising an error.

The Plug-in does not process all combinations of data types and constant types. Although all other combinations are allowed, they cause the Plug-in to ignore the INITIAL attribute. Only the combinations described here are processed.

Supported Combinations
Data Type Supported Constant Type in INITIAL Attribute
FIXED BINARY POINTER Decimal fixed point constant: 455, -1
Hexadecimal fixed point constant:   '100'XU, 'FFFF_FFFF'XN

The Plug-in ignores INITIAL for COMPLEX fields.

FIXED DECIMAL Decimal fixed point constant: 455.1, -1

The Plug-in ignores INITIAL for COMPLEX fields.

BINARY FLOAT
DECIMAL FLOAT The Plug-in ignores INITIAL for these types.
CHARACTER Character constant: "ABC", 'xy''z'
Hexadecimal character constant: '11FF00'X
GRAPHICS Graphic constant: '011F'GX
WIDECHAR Character constant: "ABC", 'xy''z'
Wide character constant: 'C1C1'WX
Graphic constant: '011F'GX
BIT Bit constant: "1100_1010"B
Octal bit constant: '40'B3
Hexadecimal bit constant: '80F1'B4, "01FF"BX

INITIAL Attribute in Arrays

In PL/I, you can initialize arrays with INITIAL, for example: 

DECLARE A(3) FIXED BINARY(31) INIT(1, 2, 3);

The Plug-in supports this initialization.