By default if you define a selection list and you do not enumerate it, the value of the selection is defined by the initial (length of the field) characters of the list item. for example, given an alpha field with a size of two:
| List item | Resulting storage value |
| On Order |
On |
| Available |
Av |
| Allocated |
Al |
You can alter this default behavior by specifying the storage value in the item description. Enclose the storage value in < and > immediately after the item description. For example:
| List item | Resulting storage value |
| On Order<1> |
1 |
| Available<6> |
6 |
| Allocated<-1> |
-1 |