FIX: A2138, A2036 or Hang, Init Nested Structure Array

MS-DOS           | OS/2

The information in this article applies to:

• Microsoft Macro Assembler for MS-DOS and OS/2, versions 6.0, 6.0a, 6.0b

SYMPTOMS

An attempt to assemble code that initializes an array of nested structures fails and the computer hangs and stops responding or the assembler produces the following messages:

   error A2138: invalid data initializer
   error A2036: too many initial values for structure

RESOLUTION

To work around this problem, perform one of the following two steps:

• Remove the initialization from the structure declaration

  -or-

• Remove the DUP operator and declare multiple nested structure fields

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in MASM versions 6.0, 6.0a, and 6.0b for MS-DOS and OS/2. This problem was corrected in MASM version 6.1 for MS-DOS.

MORE INFORMATION

In code developed for Microsoft Macro Assembler (MASM) version 6.0 or later, an application can create nested structures or use the DUP operator to create arrays of structures. An application can initialize a nested structure or an array of structures. However, an attempt to initialize a structure that contains an array of nested structures fails with the errors listed above.

MASM version 6.1 generates the following error message when an application attempts to initialize an array of nested structures:

   error A2177: nested structure improperly initialized

Sample Code

; Assemble options needed: none

.MODEL small, c

inner_struct STRUCT

   w1 DW ?

outer_struct STRUCT

   s1 inner_struct 2 DUP ({})

.DATA

tst1 outer_struct {{{1},{2}}}   ; This line generates an error message
; tst2 outer_struct {{}}        ; This line is allowed

END