Extending the export for doctrine2 annations: Column(s) may provide code for the constructor and default values are regarded when declaring the property. This approach follows the official doctrine suggestions: http://docs.doctrine-project.org/projects/doctrine-orm/en/latest/reference/faq.html#how-can-i-add-default-values-to-a-column and is to be favored against having the __constructor initialize variables or using dbms side default values via @Column options={"default"="x"}.