Changelog for QCoDeS 0.27.0

The July 2021 release of QCoDeS.

Breaking Changes:

  • DelegateInstrument takes parameters as an optional, keyworded input argument. Any arguments passed as positional arguments after this one will break with this change. (#3089)

New:

  • A generalized N-dimensional dond function has been created to work with sweep objects and measurement parameters. Currently available sweep objects are LinSweep and LogSweep that can be used for dond measurements. (#2990)

  • The default value for default_parameter_name in the Loop QCoDeS dataset changed from amplitude to None. The amplitude value interferes with datasets where one of the setpoint arrays is called amplitude. (#3095)

  • Abstract parameters has been added which allow one to create abstract instrument types that have parameters which can be overwritten in a subclass allowing the creation of instruments subclasses with a well-defined api. (#3125, #3217, #3197)

  • DataSetProtocol created to define the protocol that datasets must implement to be able to act as a storage device for the measurement class. (#3075, #3092)

  • Enable exporting complex numbers to netcdf. (#3126)

Improved:

  • DelegateInstrument can now support instrument channels. (#3089)

  • Decouple measurement name from dataset results table name to allow special characters in the measurement name. (#3185)

  • Update the get started document with installing and using spyder and jupyter. (#3179)

  • Add underlying_instrument property to _BaseParameter and use it in call_params_threaded instead of root_instrument. (3127)

  • Ensure that the per array metadata is also exported to dataarrays and not just datasets. (#3116)

  • Use threaded setting from config in doNd functions, and make process_params_meas public. (#3096)

  • Don’t allow metadata tags that are not valid python identifiers (#3192)

  • Pulled out dataframe_to_csv into it’s own submodule export_to_csv from the data_set submodule for easier reuse. (#3061)

Improved drivers:

  • Fix to Rohde & Schwarz ZNB driver for setting npts in CW mode. (#3168)

  • Update Keithley 2600 SMU current parameter to be aware of if current compliance is hit during measurement. (#3160)

  • Alazar ATS drivers: Fix buffer size for mode=’TS’ and buffers_per_acquisition > 1. (#3118)

  • New parameter complex_voltage has been added to the SR830 lockin amplifier. (#3078)

Under the hood:

  • Add logging to measurement runs in doNd functions (#3206)

  • Fix to speed up and properly set experiment in delegate device test (#3199)

  • Remove bare wait test due to random failures (#3198)

  • Revert checking of abstract parameters in post init due to unintended side effects (#3197)

  • Use public interface for instrument in parameters (#3187)

  • Fix numpy deprecation for ragged arrays (#3184)

  • Add documentation to explain automatic CI (#3169)

  • Give threads time to start in tests (#3167)

  • Minimum changes to allow type checking to pass with numpy 1.21 (#3150)

  • Add customDimensionsFilter to inject custom dim, and inject pythonExecutable (#3143)

  • Add export info metadata to dataset (#3135)

  • Pin typing packages the same way as other test dependancies do (#3123)

  • Do not preserve gh pages branch history significantly reducing the size of the full clone of the QCoDeS repository (#3122)

  • Add typing packages to conda CI (#3115)

  • Fix link to pyvisa intersphinx (#3106)

  • Compare shapes in RunDescriber equality method (#3105)

  • Fix invalid array syntax in json schema (#3097)