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Creating QCoDeS instrument drivers¶
[1]:
# most of the drivers only need a couple of these... moved all up here for clarity below
import ctypes # only for DLL-based instrument
import sys
import time
from typing import TYPE_CHECKING, Any
if TYPE_CHECKING:
from typing_extensions import (
Unpack, # can be imported from typing if python >= 3.12
)
import numpy as np
from qcodes import validators as vals
from qcodes.instrument import (
Instrument,
InstrumentBaseKWArgs,
InstrumentChannel,
VisaInstrument,
VisaInstrumentKWArgs,
)
from qcodes.instrument_drivers.AlazarTech.utils import TraceParameter
from qcodes.parameters import ManualParameter, MultiParameter, Parameter
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Base Classes¶
There are 3 available: - VisaInstrument - for most instruments that communicate over a text channel (ethernet, GPIB, serial, USB…) that do not have a custom DLL or other driver to manage low-level commands. - IPInstrument - a deprecated driver just for ethernet connections. Do not use this; use VisaInstrument instead. - Instrument - superclass of both VisaInstrument and IPInstrument, use this if you do not communicate over a text channel, for example: - PCI cards with
their own DLLs - Instruments with only manual controls.
If possible, please use a VisaInstrument, as this allows for the creation of a simulated instrument. (See the Creating Simulated PyVISA Instruments notebook)
Parameters and Channels¶
Broadly speaking, a QCoDeS instrument driver is nothing but an object that holds a connection handle to the physical instrument and has some sub-objects that represent the state of the physical instrument. These sub-objects are the Parameters. Writing a driver basically boils down to adding a ton of Parameters.
What’s a Parameter?¶
A parameter represents a single value of a single feature of an instrument, e.g. the frequency of a function generator, the mode of a multimeter (resistance, current, or voltage), or the input impedance of an oscilloscope channel. Each Parameter can have the following attributes:
name, the name used internally by QCoDeS, e.g. ‘input_impedance’instrument, the instrument this parameter belongs to, if any.label, the label to use for plotting this parameterunit, the physical unit. ALWAYS use SI units if a unit is applicableset_cmd, the command to set the parameter. Either a SCPI string with a single ‘{}’, or a function taking one argument (see examples below)get_cmd, the command to get the parameter. Follows the same scheme asset_cmdvals, a validator (fromqcodes.utils.validators) to reject invalid values before they are sent to the instrument. Since there is no standard for how an instrument responds to an out-of-bound value (e.g. a 10 kHz function generator receiving 12e9 for its frequency), meaning that the user can expect anything from silent failure to the instrument breaking or suddenly outputting random noise, it is MUCH better to catch invalid values in software. Therefore, please provide a validator if at all possible.val_mapping, a dictionary mapping human-readable values like ‘High Impedance’ to the instrument’s internal representation like ‘372’. Not always needed. If supplied, a validator is automatically constructed.max_val_age: Max time (in seconds) to trust a value stored in cache. If the parameter has not been set or measured more recently than this, an additional measurement will be performed in order to update the cached value. If it isNone, this behavior is disabled.max_val_ageshould not be used for a parameter that does not have a get function.get_parser, a parser of the raw return value. Since all VISA instruments return strings, but users usually want numbers,intandfloatare popularget_parsersdocstringA short string describing the function of the parameter
Golden rule: if a Parameter is settable, it must always accept its own output as input.
Adding a Parameter to an instrument.¶
There are two different ways of adding parameters to instruments. They are almost equivalent but comes with some trade-offs. We will show both below. Parameters are declared using the add_parameter method on the instrument class which takes care of creating the parameter and registering it as a member of the instrument. The output of this method call is the newly created Parameter. When possible we strongly encourage that this is assigned to an attribute of the same name on the instrument
class as shown below.
Explicitly assigning a parameter as an attribute on the instrument enables Sphinx, IDEs such as VSCode and static tools such as Mypy to detect the existence and type of the parameter. However if you parameter is created dynamically with a name that is not a string this may not be possible. E.g. if your parameters are created based on named defined in an external config file. In this case, it is acceptable to not assign the output of add_parameter to an attribute. To include the parameter in
Sphinx documentation, you must also provide a docstring in the form """Docstring here""" just below the call to add_parameter
For historical reasons many instruments currently use add_parameter without assigning the output. QCoDeS provides a CLI tool qcodes-refactor to update such code automatically. The tool should be executed as qcodes-refactor parameter_refactor path_to_folder_with_instrument_drivers_to_update. You should carefully review the output of this tool and you may be required to add additional imports to make the code work correctly. To use this tool qcodes should be installed with the refactor
option e.g. pip install qcodes[refactor].
Note that it is also possible to directly create a parameter and assign it as an attribute. We do not recommend this, since you can easily forget that you are required to pass instrument=self to the parameter for the parameter to work correctly.
Functions¶
Similar to parameters QCoDeS instruments implement the concept of functions that can be added to the instrument via add_function. They are meant to implement simple actions on the instrument such as resetting it. However, the functions do not add any value over normal python methods in the driver Class and we are planning to eventually remove them from QCoDeS. We therefore encourage any driver developer to not use function in any new driver.
What’s an InstrumentModule, then?¶
An InstrumentModule is a submodule of the instrument holding Parameters. It sometimes makes sense to group Parameters, for instance when an oscilloscope has four identical input channels (see Keithley example below) or when it makes sense to group a particular set of parameters into their own module (such as a trigger module containing trigger related settings)
InstrumentChannel is a subclass of InstrumentModule which behaves identically to InstrumentModule you should chose either one depending on if you are implementing a module or a channel. As a rule of thumb you should use InstrumentChannel for something that the instrument has more than one of.
Naming Instruments¶
We are aiming to organize drivers in QCoDeS in a consistent way for easy discovery. Note that not all drivers in QCoDeS are currently named consistently. However, we aim to gradually update all drivers to be named as outlined above and any new driver should be named in the way outlined below.
The same rules should apply for QCoDeS-contrib-drivers with the exception that all drivers are stored in subfolders of the drivers folder.
Naming the Instrument class¶
A driver for an instrument with model Model and from the vendor Vendor should be stored in the file:
qcodes\instrument_drivers\{Vendor}\{Vendor}_{Model}.py
using snake case with an underscore between the vendor and model name but starting the vendor name with upper case.
The primary instrument class should be named as follows:
class {Vendor}{Model}
...
E.g Vendor followed by Model number in CamelCase.
Note that we use vendor names starting with upper case for both folders and file names.
It is also fine to use an acronym for instrument vendors when there are well established. E.g. drivers for American Magnetics Inc. instruments may use the acronym AMI to refer to the vendor.
As an example the driver for the Weinschel 8320 should be stored in the file qcodes\instrument_drivers\Weinschel\Weinschel_8320.py and the class named Weinschel8320
Naming InstrumentModule classes¶
InstrumentModules and InstrumentChannels should be defined in the same file as the driver that they are part of. The classes should preferable be named such that it is clear from the name which instrument it belongs to. E.g a hypothetical InstrumentChannel belonging to a Weinschel 8320 should be named Weinschel8320Channel or similar.
Driver supporting multiple models.¶
Often instrument vendors supply multiple instruments in a family with very similar specs only different in limits such as voltage ranges or highest supported frequency.
As an example have a look at the Keysight 344xxA series of digital multi meters. To implement drivers for such instruments it is preferable to implement a private base class such as _Keysight344xxA. This class should be stored either in a private subfolder of the Vendor folder or in a file starting with an underscore i.e. _Keysight344xxA.py. If possible, we prefer a format where x is used to signal the parts of the model numbers that may change. Along with this class subclasses
for each of the supported models should be implemented. These may either make small modifications to the baseclass as needed or be empty subclasses if no modifications are needed.
E.g. subclasses of the Keysight 344xxA driver for the specific model 34410A should be named as Keysight34410A and stored in Keysight34410A.py.
Logging¶
Every QCoDeS module should have its own logger that is named with the name of the module. So to create a logger put a line at the top of the module like this:
log = logging.getLogger(__name__)
Use this logger only to log messages that are not originating from an Instrument instance. For messages from within an instrument instance use the log member of the Instrument class, e.g
self.log.info(f"Could not connect at %s", address)
This way the instrument name will be prepended to the log message and the log messages can be filtered according to the instrument they originate from. See the example notebook of the logger module for more info.
When creating a nested Instrument, like e.g. something like the InstrumentChannel class, that has a _parent property, make sure that this property gets set before calling the super().__init__ method, so that the full name of the instrument gets resolved correctly for the logging.
VisaInstrument: Simple example¶
The Weinschel 8320 driver is about as basic a driver as you can get. It only defines one parameter, “attenuation”. All the comments here are my additions to describe what’s happening.
[2]:
class Weinschel8320(VisaInstrument):
"""
QCoDeS driver for the stepped attenuator
Weinschel is formerly known as Aeroflex/Weinschel
"""
# all instrument constructors should accept **kwargs and pass them on to
# super().__init__ By using Unpack[VisaKWArgs] we ensure that the instrument class takes exactly the same keyword args as the base class
# Visa instruments are also required to take name, address and terminator as arguments.
# name and address should be positional arguments. To overwrite the default terminator or timeout
# the attribute default_terminator or default_timeout should be defined as a class attribute in the instrument class
# as shown below for the default_terminator
default_terminator = "\r"
def __init__(
self, name: str, address: str, **kwargs: "Unpack[VisaInstrumentKWArgs]"
):
super().__init__(name, address, **kwargs)
self.attenuation = self.add_parameter(
"attenuation",
unit="dB",
# the value you set will be inserted in this command with
# regular python string substitution. This instrument wants
# an integer zero-padded to 2 digits. For robustness, don't
# assume you'll get an integer input though - try to allow
# floats (as opposed to {:0=2d})
set_cmd="ATTN ALL {:02.0f}",
get_cmd="ATTN? 1",
# setting any attenuation other than 0, 2, ... 60 will error.
vals=vals.Enum(*np.arange(0, 60.1, 2).tolist()),
# the return value of get() is a string, but we want to
# turn it into a (float) number
get_parser=float,
)
"""Control the attenuation"""
# The docstring below the Parameter declaration makes Sphinx document the attribute and it is therefore
# possible to see from the documentation that the instrument has this parameter. It is strongly encouraged to
# add a short docstring like this.
# it's a good idea to call connect_message at the end of your constructor.
# this calls the 'IDN' parameter that the base Instrument class creates for
# every instrument (you can override the `get_idn` method if it doesn't work
# in the standard VISA form for your instrument) which serves two purposes:
# 1) verifies that you are connected to the instrument
# 2) gets the ID info so it will be included with metadata snapshots later.
self.connect_message()
# instantiating and using this instrument (commented out because I can't actually do it!)
#
# from qcodes.instrument_drivers.weinschel.Weinschel_8320 import Weinschel8320
# weinschel = Weinschel8320('w8320_1', 'TCPIP0::172.20.2.212::inst0::INSTR')
# weinschel.attenuation(40)
VisaInstrument: a more involved example¶
The Keithley 2600 sourcemeter driver uses two channels. The actual driver is quite long, so here we show an abridged version that has:
A class defining a
Channel. All theParameters of theChannelgo here.A nifty way to look up the model number, allowing it to be a driver for many different Keithley models
[3]:
class KeithleyChannel(InstrumentChannel):
"""
Class to hold the two Keithley channels, i.e.
SMUA and SMUB.
"""
def __init__(
self,
parent: Instrument,
name: str,
channel: str,
**kwargs: "Unpack[InstrumentBaseKWArgs]",
) -> None:
"""
Args:
parent: The Instrument instance to which the channel is
to be attached.
name: The 'colloquial' name of the channel
channel: The name used by the Keithley, i.e. either
'smua' or 'smub'
**kwargs: Forwarded to base class.
"""
if channel not in ["smua", "smub"]:
raise ValueError('channel must be either "smub" or "smua"')
super().__init__(parent, name, **kwargs)
self.model = self._parent.model
self.volt = self.add_parameter(
"volt",
get_cmd=f"{channel}.measure.v()",
get_parser=float,
set_cmd=f"{channel}.source.levelv={{:.12f}}",
# note that the set_cmd is either the following format string
#'smua.source.levelv={:.12f}' or 'smub.source.levelv={:.12f}'
# depending on the value of `channel`
label="Voltage",
unit="V",
)
"""Parameter volt"""
self.curr = self.add_parameter(
"curr",
get_cmd=f"{channel}.measure.i()",
get_parser=float,
set_cmd=f"{channel}.source.leveli={{:.12f}}",
label="Current",
unit="A",
)
"""Parameter curr"""
self.mode = self.add_parameter(
"mode",
get_cmd=f"{channel}.source.func",
get_parser=float,
set_cmd=f"{channel}.source.func={{:d}}",
val_mapping={"current": 0, "voltage": 1},
docstring="Selects the output source.",
)
"""Parameter mode"""
self.output = self.add_parameter(
"output",
get_cmd=f"{channel}.source.output",
get_parser=float,
set_cmd=f"{channel}.source.output={{:d}}",
val_mapping={"on": 1, "off": 0},
)
"""Parameter output"""
self.nplc = self.add_parameter(
"nplc",
label="Number of power line cycles",
set_cmd=f"{channel}.measure.nplc={{:.4f}}",
get_cmd=f"{channel}.measure.nplc",
get_parser=float,
vals=vals.Numbers(0.001, 25),
)
"""Parameter nplc"""
self.channel = channel
class Keithley2600(VisaInstrument):
"""
This is the qcodes driver for the Keithley2600 Source-Meter series,
tested with Keithley2614B
"""
default_terminator = "\n"
def __init__(
self, name: str, address: str, **kwargs: "Unpack[VisaInstrumentKWArgs]"
) -> None:
"""
Args:
name: Name to use internally in QCoDeS
address: VISA ressource address
**kwargs: kwargs are forwarded to the base class.
"""
super().__init__(name, address, **kwargs)
model = self.ask("localnode.model")
knownmodels = [
"2601B",
"2602B",
"2604B",
"2611B",
"2612B",
"2614B",
"2635B",
"2636B",
]
if model not in knownmodels:
kmstring = ("{}, " * (len(knownmodels) - 1)).format(*knownmodels[:-1])
kmstring += f"and {knownmodels[-1]}."
raise ValueError("Unknown model. Known model are: " + kmstring)
# Add the channel to the instrument
for ch in ["a", "b"]:
ch_name = f"smu{ch}"
channel = KeithleyChannel(self, ch_name, ch_name)
self.add_submodule(ch_name, channel)
# display parameter
# Parameters NOT specific to a channel still belong on the Instrument object
# In this case, the Parameter controls the text on the display
self.display_settext = Parameter(
"display_settext",
set_cmd=self._display_settext,
vals=vals.Strings(),
instrument=self,
)
self.connect_message()
VisaInstruments: Simulating the instrument¶
As mentioned above, drivers subclassing VisaInstrument have the nice property that they may be connected to a simulated version of the physical instrument. See the Creating Simulated PyVISA Instruments notebook for more information. If you are writing a VisaInstrument driver, please consider spending 20 minutes to also add a simulated instrument and a test.
DLL-based instruments¶
The Alazar cards use their own DLL. C interfaces tend to need a lot of boilerplate, so I’m not going to include it all. The key is: use Instrument directly, load the DLL, and have parameters interact with it.
[4]:
class AlazarTechATS(Instrument):
dll_path = "C:\\WINDOWS\\System32\\ATSApi"
def __init__(
self,
name,
system_id=1,
board_id=1,
dll_path=None,
**kwargs: "Unpack[InstrumentBaseKWArgs]",
):
super().__init__(name, **kwargs)
# connect to the DLL
self._ATS_dll = ctypes.cdll.LoadLibrary(dll_path or self.dll_path)
self._handle = self._ATS_dll.AlazarGetBoardBySystemID(system_id, board_id)
if not self._handle:
raise Exception(
f"AlazarTech_ATS not found at system {system_id}, board {board_id}"
)
self.buffer_list = []
# the Alazar driver includes its own parameter class to hold values
# until later config is called, and warn if you try to read a value
# that hasn't been sent to config.
self.clock_source: TraceParameter = self.add_parameter(
name="clock_source",
parameter_class=TraceParameter,
label="Clock Source",
unit=None,
value="INTERNAL_CLOCK",
byte_to_value_dict={
1: "INTERNAL_CLOCK",
4: "SLOW_EXTERNAL_CLOCK",
5: "EXTERNAL_CLOCK_AC",
7: "EXTERNAL_CLOCK_10MHz_REF",
},
)
# etc...
It’s very typical for DLL based instruments to only be supported on Windows. In such a driver care should be taken to ensure that the driver raises a clear error message if it is initialized on a different platform. This is typically best done by by checking sys.platform as below. In this example we are using ctypes.windll to interact with the DLL. windll is only defined on on Windows.
QCoDeS is automatically typechecked with MyPy, this may give some complications for drivers that are not compatible with multiple OSes as there is no supported way to disabling the typecheck on a per platform basis for a specific submodule. Specifically MyPy will correctly notice that self.dll does not exist on non Windows platforms unless we add the line self.dll: Any = None to the example below. By giving self.dll the type Any we effectively disable any typecheck related to
self.dll on non Windows platforms which is exactly what we want. This works because MyPy knows how to interprete the sys.platform check and allows self.dll to have different types on different OSes.
[5]:
class SomeDLLInstrument(Instrument):
dll_path = "C:\\WINDOWS\\System32\\ATSApi"
def __init__(self, name, dll_path=None, **kwargs: "Unpack[InstrumentBaseKWArgs]"):
super().__init__(name, **kwargs)
if sys.platform != "win32":
self.dll: Any = None
raise OSError("SomeDLLInsrument only works on Windows")
else:
self.dll = ctypes.windll.LoadLibrary(self.dll_path)
# etc...
Manual instruments¶
A totally manual instrument (like the ithaco 1211) will contain only ManualParameters. Some instruments may have a mix of manual and standard parameters. Here we also define a new CurrentParameter class that uses the ithaco parameters to convert a measured voltage to a current. When subclassing a parameter class (Parameter, MultiParameter, …), the functions for setting and getting should be called get_raw and set_raw, respectively.
[6]:
class CurrentParameter(MultiParameter):
"""
Current measurement via an Ithaco preamp and a measured voltage.
To be used when you feed a current into the Ithaco, send the Ithaco's
output voltage to a lockin or other voltage amplifier, and you have
the voltage reading from that amplifier as a qcodes parameter.
``CurrentParameter.get()`` returns ``(voltage_raw, current)``
Args:
measured_param: a gettable parameter returning the
voltage read from the Ithaco output.
c_amp_ins: an Ithaco instance where you manually
maintain the present settings of the real Ithaco amp.
name: the name of the current output. Default 'curr'.
Also used as the name of the whole parameter.
"""
def __init__(
self,
measured_param: Parameter,
c_amp_ins: "Ithaco1211",
name: str = "curr",
**kwargs,
):
p_name = measured_param.name
p_label = measured_param.label
p_unit = measured_param.unit
super().__init__(
name=name,
names=(p_name + "_raw", name),
shapes=((), ()),
labels=(p_label, "Current"),
units=(p_unit, "A"),
instrument=c_amp_ins,
**kwargs,
)
self._measured_param = measured_param
def get_raw(self):
volt = self._measured_param.get()
assert isinstance(self.instrument, Ithaco1211)
current = (
self.instrument.sens.get() * self.instrument.sens_factor.get()
) * volt
if self.instrument.invert.get():
current *= -1
value = (volt, current)
return value
class Ithaco1211(Instrument):
"""
This is the qcodes driver for the Ithaco 1211 Current-preamplifier.
This is a virtual driver only and will not talk to your instrument.
"""
def __init__(self, name: str, **kwargs: "Unpack[InstrumentBaseKWArgs]"):
super().__init__(name, **kwargs)
# ManualParameter has an "initial_value" kwarg, but if you use this
# you must be careful to check that it's correct before relying on it.
# if you don't set initial_value, it will start out as None.
self.sens: ManualParameter = self.add_parameter(
"sens",
parameter_class=ManualParameter,
initial_value=1e-8,
label="Sensitivity",
units="A/V",
vals=vals.Enum(1e-11, 1e-10, 1e-09, 1e-08, 1e-07, 1e-06, 1e-05, 1e-4, 1e-3),
)
"Parameter sense"
self.invert: ManualParameter = self.add_parameter(
"invert",
parameter_class=ManualParameter,
initial_value=True,
label="Inverted output",
vals=vals.Bool(),
)
"Parameter invert"
self.sens_factor = self.add_parameter(
"sens_factor",
parameter_class=ManualParameter,
initial_value=1,
label="Sensitivity factor",
units=None,
vals=vals.Enum(0.1, 1, 10),
)
"""Parameter sens_factor"""
self.suppression = self.add_parameter(
"suppression",
parameter_class=ManualParameter,
initial_value=1e-7,
label="Suppression",
units="A",
vals=vals.Enum(1e-10, 1e-09, 1e-08, 1e-07, 1e-06, 1e-05, 1e-4, 1e-3),
)
"""Parameter suppression"""
self.risetime: ManualParameter = self.add_parameter(
"risetime",
parameter_class=ManualParameter,
initial_value=0.3,
label="Rise Time",
units="msec",
vals=vals.Enum(0.01, 0.03, 0.1, 0.3, 1, 3, 10, 30, 100, 300, 1000),
)
"""Parameter risetime"""
def get_idn(self):
return {
"vendor": "Ithaco (DL Instruments)",
"model": "1211",
"serial": None,
"firmware": None,
}
Custom Parameter classes¶
When you call:
self.add_parameter(name, **kwargs)
you create a Parameter. But with the parameter_class kwarg you can invoke any class you want:
self.add_parameter(name, parameter_class=OtherClass, **kwargs)
Parameterhandles most common instrument settings and measurements.Accepts get and/or set commands as either strings for the instrument’s
askandwritemethods, or functions/methods. The set and get commands may also be set toFalseandNone.Falsecorresponds to “no get/set method available” (example: the reading of a voltmeter is not settable, so we setset_cmd=False).Nonecorresponds to a manually updated parameter (example: an instrument with no remote interface).Has options for translating between instrument codes and more meaningful data values
Supports software-controlled ramping
Any other parameter class may be used in
add_parameter, if it acceptsnameandinstrumentas constructor kwargs. Generally these should subclasses ofParameter,ParameterWithSetpoints,ArrayParameter, orMultiParameter.
ParameterWithSetpoints is specifically designed to handle the situations where the instrument returns an array of data with assosiated setpoints. An example of how to use it can be found in the notebook Simple Example of ParameterWithSetpoints
ArrayParameter is an older alternative that does the same thing. However, it is significantly less flexible and much harder to use correct but used in a significant number of drivers. It is not recommended for any new driver.
MultiParameter is designed to for the situation where multiple different types of data is captured from the same instrument command.
It is important that parameters subclass forwards the name, label(s), unit(s) and instrument along with any unknown **kwargs to the superclasss.
On/Off parameters¶
Frequently, an instrument has parameters which can be expressed in terms of “something is on or off”. Moreover, usually it is not easy to translate the lingo of the instrument to something that can have simply the value of True or False (which are typical in software). Even further, it may be difficult to find consensus between users on a convention: is it on/off, or ON/OFF, or python True/False, or 1/0, or else?
This case becomes even more complex if the instrument’s API (say, corresponding VISA command) uses unexpected values for such a parameter, for example, turning an output “on” corresponds to a VISA command DEV:CH:BLOCK 0 which means “set blocking of the channel to 0 where 0 has the meaning of the boolean value False, and alltogether this command actually enables the output on this channel”.
This results in inconsistency among instrument drivers where for some instrument, say, a display parameter has ‘on’/’off’ values for input, while for a different instrument a similar display parameter has 'ON'/'OFF' values or 1/0.
Note that this particular example of a display parameter is trivial because the ambiguity and inconsistency for “this kind” of parameters can be solved by having the name of the parameter be display_enabled and the allowed input values to be python bool True/False.
Anyway, when defining parameters where the solution does not come trivially, please, consider setting val_mapping of a parameter to the output of create_on_off_val_mapping(on_val=<>, off_val=<>) function from qcodes.parameters package. The function takes care of creating a val_mapping dictionary that maps given instrument-side values of on_val and off_val to True/False, 'ON'/'OFF', 'on'/'off', and other commonly used ones. Note that when getting a
value of such a parameter, the user will not get 'ON' or 'off' or 'oFF' - instead, True/False will be returned.
Dynamically adding and removing parameters¶
Sometimes when conditions change (for example, the mode of operation of the instrument is changed from current to voltage measurement) you want different parameters to be available.
To delete existing parameters:
del self.parameters[name_to_delete]
And to add more, do the same thing as you did initially:
self.add_parameter(new_name, **kwargs)
Handling interruption of measurements¶
A QCoDeS driver should be prepared for interruptions of the measurement triggered by a KeyboardInterrupt from the enduser. If an interrupt happens at an unfortunate time i.e. while communicating with the instrument or writing results of a measurement this may leave the program in an inconsistent state e.g. with a command in the output buffer of a VISA instrument. To protect against this QCoDeS ships with a context manager that intercepts KeyBoardInterrupts and delays them until it is safe to stop the program. By default QCoDeS protects writing to the database and communicating with VISA instruments in this way.
However, there may be situations where a driver needs additional protection around a critical piece of code. The following example shows how a critical piece of code can be protected. The reader is encouraged to experiment with this using the interrupt the kernel button in this notebook. Note how the first KeyBoardInterrupt triggers a message to the screen and then executes the code within the context manager but not the code outside. Furthermore 2 KeyBoardInterrupts rapidly after each other
will trigger an immediate interrupt that does not complete the code within the context manager. The context manager can therefore be wrapped around any piece of code that the end user should not normally be allowed to interrupt.
[7]:
from qcodes.utils.delaykeyboardinterrupt import DelayedKeyboardInterrupt
with DelayedKeyboardInterrupt():
for i in range(10):
time.sleep(0.2)
print(i)
print("Loop completed")
print("Executing code after context manager")
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Loop completed
Executing code after context manager
Organization¶
Your drivers do not need to be part of QCoDeS in order to use them with QCoDeS, but we strongly encourage you to contribute them to the qcodes contrib drivers project. That way we prevent duplication of effort, and you will likely get help making the driver better, with more features and better code.
Make one driver per module, inside a directory named for the company (or institution), within the instrument_drivers directory, following the convention:
instrument_drivers.<company>.<model>.<company>_<model> - example: instrument_drivers.AlazarTech.ATS9870.AlazarTech_ATS9870
Although the class name can be just the model if it is globally unambiguous. For example: - example: instrument_drivers.stanford_research.SR560.SR560
And note that due to mergers, some drivers may not be in the folder you expect: - example: instrument_drivers.tektronix.Keithley_2600.Keithley_2600_Channels
Documentation¶
A driver should be documented in the following ways.
All methods of the driver class should be documented including the arguments and return type of the function. QCoDeS docstrings uses the Google style
Parameters should have a meaningful docstring if the usage of the parameter is not obvious.
An IPython notebook that documents the usage of the instrument should be added to
docs/example/driver_examples/Qcodes example with <company> <model>.ipynbNote that we execute notebooks by default as part of the docs build. That is usually not possible for instrument examples so we want to disable the execution. This can be done as described here editing the notebooks metadata accessible viaEdit/Edit Notebook Metadatafrom the notebook interface.
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