Blank Selection Alias

Blank selection alias is a means by which a lab can indicate that blanks of a different lens style and/or different material should be selected for a job.  This can be used for toric jobs, and is often used for digital jobs where the vendor does not enforce selection themselves.

The top frame shows what products should be considered, and what they should be aliased to.  When an order uses the lens style and material on the left, lenses with the lens style and material on the right will also be considered during blank selection.  In this example about, Rx-Universe will consider ST28 lenses in material K when an order is entered for ST28 lenses in material 7.  If the Alias Manufacturer field is set, this would restrict the K,ST28 lenses to the specified manufacturer.

Note that the material on either side may be blank, in which case the alias applies to all materials.

Power Split Bases - this specifies the power difference between the left and right eyes, beyond which different base curves will be selected.  If the difference in power between the left and right eyes is <= 2.00D (in this example), then Rx-Universe will attempt to put both eyes on the same base.

Base Rounding - specifies what to do when trying to put both lenses on the same base.  This can be set to average the powers between the left and right eyes, and select the base that would be used for that power; or to round towards a specific base (for example, round towards a 6-base), or to round up or down to the higher or lower base that would be selected, between the two eyes.  Note that, for digital designs that are set to use BRS requests from the LDS vendor, only options U and D are functional to try to put both lenses on the same base. 

SRC Option - if left blank, when a lens with no treatment is entered, only uncoated blanks will be selected.  If set to "3", then scratch coated lenses will be selected in addition to uncoated, when no coating is specified on the order.

Thin Lens Options - in inventory, lenses can be set up with thickness codes, such as "N" to indicate a thinner lens (for example, a 1.0 CT Poly finished lens).  These 3 fields can be set to specific thickness codes to be considered for blanks.

Match L/R Group - if alias is used to switch between different progressives, for example, setting this option to "Y" will cause both lenses to be the same type (the same group).

Same Manufacturer - checking this requires the blanks for both eyes to be from the same manufacturer.

Same Size - checking this requires the blanks that are selected to both be the same size

Glass Tints -

Force SRC L/R - checking this option forces both selected blanks to have the same (or no) scratch coating

Extended List - if checked, this causes the aliased items to be grouped together at the end of the blank selection list.  if not selected, then the blanks that meet the alias description are grouped in the midst of any items matching the specified style/material.

Reverse Select -

SRC lenses when ARC - checking this option allows SRC lenses (scratch coated) to be selected when ARC is requested for a job.  If left unchecked, then only uncoated lenses will be selected when ARC is requested for a job.

Example

An example will illustrate how the alias entries work. 

Consider a simple example where the lab has SV lenses in both semi-finished and finished, as well as SVFLAT finished lenses (which come in the same power range, diameter and coating as SV finished, but are manufactured with a flatter front curve), and SVD semi-finished blanks (blanks originally released to be digital-compatible, hence the D at the end of the code). 

When a SV job is received, the lab wishes to include all SV, SVFLAT and SVD blanks when looking for the best lenses to use for an order.  For a sample job such as a -2.00 sphere in CR39, the following lenses might be available in the lab:

finished SV -2.00 70mm 

finished SVFLAT -2.00 70mm

semi-finished SV 450-base 70mm

semi-finished SV 450-base 76mm

semi-finished SVD 425-base 70mm

semi-finished SV 650-base 70mm

semi-finished SV 650-base 76mm

semi-finished SVD 625-base 70mm

The alias could be set up as follows, this is a linked-link which flows from one entry to the next:
SV → SVFLAT 
SVFLAT → SVD
SVD → SV

Note that the list cycles back to the starting point; thus it does not matter what the first lens style is, Rx-Universe will cycle through all of the options.

On the individual entries, such as:

It is worth explaining the "Extended List" option.  Using the above 8 possible lens blanks, and the alias sequence specified above, below shows the effect of checking the Extended List box

In the first column, with the option NOT checked, all items are considered equivalent and are grouped as if they were all the same design.

In the second column, each different lens style is grouped together, in the sequence that was specified in the linked-list alias path.