RsInstrument

RsInstrument module provides convenient way of communicating with R&S instruments.

Basic Hello-World code:

from RsInstrument import *

instr = RsInstrument('TCPIP::192.168.56.101::hislip0', id_query=True, reset=True)
idn = instr.query_str('*IDN?')
print('Hello, I am: ' + idn)

Check out the full documentation on ReadTheDocs.

Our public Rohde&Schwarz Github repository hosts many examples using this library. If you're looking for examples with specific instruments, check out the ones for Oscilloscopes, Powersensors, Powersupplies, Spectrum Analyzers, Vector Network Analyzers.

Version history:

Version 1.90.0.108 (07.10.2024)

• Changed the minimum Python requirement to 3.7 to avoid SCPI Logger Regex error.
• Fixed VISA Timeout Error generations for NRP sessions.
• Added Instrument Options methods: has_instr_option(), has_instr_option_regex(), has_instr_option_k0(), add_instr_option(), remove_instr_option()

Version 1.82.1.106 (13.06.2024)

• Fixed failing 'import visa' statement for python > 3.10

Version 1.82.0.105 (07.06.2024)

• Changes in ScpiLogger:

  • info(), error() - changed the last parameter 'cmd' to optional
  • info_bin(), info_list() - changed the order of the last two parameters!!! 'cmd' moved to the end and made optional, to be compatible with 1.61.0
  • ContextManager VisaTimeoutSuppressor made more robust in case of exceptions inside the other exceptions.

Version 1.80.0.103 (27.05.2024)

• Core 1.90.0 with more robust _flush_junk_data() that tolerates read timeouts.
• Added Logger.log_info_replacer for customizing the logging info strings.
• Logger info strings 'Write string' and 'Query string' shortened to 'Write' and 'Query'

Version 1.70.0.102 (26.04.2024)

• To all query_str_list_xxx() methods, added non-mandatory parameter 'remove_blank_response'.

• Logger: added new variable to the format string: %SCPI_COMMAND%, where you can only log SCPI commands to your log data.

• Added Context-managers for ignoring errors and ignoring VISA Timeouts:

  # Any Instrument error in the context is ignored
  with io.instr_err_suppressor() as supp:
      io.write("*RSaT")
  if supp.get_errors_occurred():
      print("Error(s) suppressed")
  
  # Any Timeout error in the context is ignored
  with io.visa_tout_suppressor(500) as supp:
      io.write("*IDaN")
  if supp.get_timeout_occurred():
      print("VISA Timeout suppressed")

• Added to Utilities interface: query_str_list(), query_str_list_with_opc(), query_bool_list(), query_bool_list_with_opc().

• Added Utility functions: value_to_si_string(), size_to_kb_mb_gb_string().

• Changed behaviour of the Conversion functions to list:

  • str_to_float_list()
  • str_to_float_or_bool_list()
  • str_to_int_list()
  • str_to_int_or_bool_list()
  • str_to_bool_list()

  These functions previously returned a list of one element if the input value was whitespace-only string. Now, in such case they return empty list.

Version 1.61.0.101 (27.02.2024)

• Added settings profile 'XK41' for R&S Software Defined Radios.
• Added settings 'FirstCmds' where you can send the defined commands right after the init. Send more commands in a row with ';;' separator.
• Added settings 'EachCmdPrefix' - this prefix is added to each command sent to the instrument. Supported values are also 'lf', 'cr', 'tab'.

Version 1.60.0.100 (31.01.2024)

• Fixed SocketIo session for cases when the instrument connection is lost in the middle of reading a response.
• Fixed VisaPluginSocketIo read() method for cases where the session is lost. The method now generates exception in that case.
• Added settings OpcSyncQueryMechanism with changed default value to 'only_check_mav_err_queue'.
• Added settings 'OpcSyncQueryMechanism' with values: Standard, AlsoCheckMav, ClsOnlyCheckMavErrQueue, OnlyCheckMavErrQueue.

Version 1.55.0.99 (29.09.2023)

• Added logger convenient methods start() and stop().

• Added lock_resource() and unlock_resource() methods for device-site locking.

• Added Context-manager interface to the RsInstrument class. Now you can use it as follows:

  with RsInstrument("TCPIP::192.168.1.101::hislip0") as io:
      io.reset()

Version 1.54.0.98 (27.06.2023)

• Added new options profile for ATS chambers.
• Added settings boolean token EachCmdAsQuery. Example: EachCmdAsQuery=True. Default: False.

Version 1.53.1.97 (28.03.2023)

• Fixed decoding custom Status Register bits.

Version 1.53.0.96 (18.10.2022)

• Improved mode where the instrument works with a session from another object.
• Silently ignoring invalid *IDN? string.
• Added new options profile 'Minimal' for non-SCPI-99 instruments.

Version 1.52.0.94 (28.09.2022)

• Fixed DisableOpcQuery=True settings effect.
• Increased DataChunkSize from 1E6 to 1E7 bytes.
• Improved robustness of the TerminationCharacter option value entry.
• Added new options profile for CMQ500: 'Profile=CMQ'.

Version 1.51.1.93 (09.09.2022)

• Fixed go_to_local() / go_to_remote() for VXI-capable sessions.

Version 1.51.0.92 (08.09.2022)

• Changed the accepted IDN? response to more permissive.
• Removed build number from the package version.
• Added constructor options boolean token VxiCapable. Example: VxiCapable=False. Default: True (coerced later to false based on a session type).
• Added methods go_to_remote() and go_to_local().
• Added methods file_exists() and get_file_size().

Version 1.50.0.90 (23.06.2022)

• Added relative timestamp to the logger.
• Added RsInstrument class variables for logging making it possible to define common target and reference timestamp for all instances.
• Logger stream entries are by default immediately flushed, making sure that the log is complete.
• Added time statistic methods get_total_execution_time(), get_total_time(), reset_time_statistics().

Version 1.24.0.83 (03.06.2022)

• Changed parsing of SYST:ERR? response to tolerate +0,"No Error" response.
• Added constructor options integer token OpenTimeout. Example: OpenTimeout=5000. Default: 0.
• Added constructor options boolean token ExclusiveLock. Example: ExclusiveLock=True. Default: False.

Version 1.23.0.82 (25.05.2022)

• Added stripping of trailing commas when parsing the idn response.
• If the Resource Manager does not find any default VISA implementation, it falls back to R&S VISA - relevant for LINUX and MacOS.
• Other typos and formatting corrections.
• Changed parsing of SYST:ERR? response to tolerate +0,"No Error" response.

Version 1.22.0.80 (21.04.2022)

• Added optional parameter timeout to reset().
• Added query list methods: query_str_list, query_str_list_with_opc, query_bool_list, query_bool_list_with_opc.
• Added query_str_stripped for stripping string responses of quotes.

Version 1.21.0.78 (15.03.2022)

• Added logging to UDP port (49200) to integrate with new R&S Instrument Control plugin for Pycharm.
• Improved documentation for logging and Simulation mode sessions.

Version 1.20.0.76 (19.11.2021)

• Fixed logging strings when device name was a substring of the resource name.

Version 1.19.0.75 (08.11.2021)

• Added setting profile for non-standard instruments. Example of the options string: options='Profile=hm8123'.

Version 1.18.0.73 (15.10.2021)

• Added correct conversion of strings with SI suffixes (e.g.: MHz, KHz, THz, GHz, ms, us) to float and integer.

Version 1.17.0.72 (31.08.2021)

• Changed default encoding of string<=>bin from utf-8 to charmap.
• Added settable encoding for the session. Property: RsInstrument.encoding.
• Fixed logging to console when switched on after init - the cached init entries are now properly flushed and displayed.

Version 1.16.0.69 (17.07.2021)

• Improved exception handling in cases where the instrument session is closed.

Version 1.15.0.68 (12.07.2021)

• Scpi logger time entries now support not only datetime tuples, but also float timestamps.
• Added query_all_errors_with_codes() - returning list of tuples (message: str, code: int).
• Added logger.log_status_check_ok property. This allows for skipping lines with 'Status check: OK'.

Version 1.14.0.65 (28.06.2021)

• Added SCPI Logger.
• Simplified constructor's options string format - removed DriverSetup=() syntax. Instead of "DriverSetup=(TerminationCharacter='n')", you use "TerminationCharacter='n'". The original format is still supported.
• Fixed calling SYST:ERR? even if STB? returned 0.
• Replaced @ni backend with @ivi for resource manager - this is necessary for the future pyvisa version 1.12+.

Version 1.13.0.63 (09.06.2021)

• Added methods reconnect(), is_connection_active().

Version 1.12.1.60 (01.06.2021)

• Fixed bug with error checking when events are defined.

Version 1.12.0.58 (03.05.2021)

• Changes in Core only.

Version 1.11.0.57 (18.04.2021)

• Added aliases for the write_str... and query_str... methods:

  • write() = write_str()
  • query() = query_str()
  • write_with_opc() = write_str_with_opc()
  • query_with_opc() = query_str_with_opc()

Version 1.9.1.54 (20.01.2021)

• query_opc() got additional non-mandatory parameter 'timeout'.
• Code changes only relevant for the auto-generated drivers.

Version 1.9.0.52 (29.11.2020)

• Added Thread-locking for sessions. Related new methods: get_lock(), assign_lock(), clear_lock().
• Added read-only property 'resource_name'.

Version 1.8.4.49 (13.11.2020)

• Changed Authors and copyright.
• Code changes only relevant for the auto-generated drivers.
• Extended Conversions method str_to_str_list() by parameter 'clear_one_empty_item' with default value False.

Version 1.8.3.46 (09.11.2020)

• Fixed parsing of the instrument errors when an error message contains two double quotes.

Version 1.8.2.45 (21.10.2020)

• Code changes only relevant for the auto-generated drivers.
• Added 'UND' to the list of float numbers that are represented as NaN.

Version 1.8.1.41 (11.10.2020)

• Fixed Python 3.8.5+ warnings.
• Extended documentation, added offline installer.
• Filled package's __init__ file with the exposed API. This simplifies the import statement.

Version 1.7.0.37 (01.10.2020)

• Replaced 'import visa' with 'import pyvisa' to remove Python 3.8 pyvisa warnings.
• Added option to set the termination characters for reading and writing. Until now, it was fixed to '\n' (Linefeed). Set it in the constructor 'options' string: DriverSetup=(TerminationCharacter = '\r'). Default value is still '\n'.
• Added static method RsInstrument.assert_minimum_version() raising assertion exception if the RsInstrument version does not fulfill at minimum the entered version.
• Added 'Hameg' to the list of supported instruments.

Version 1.6.0.32 (21.09.2020)

• Added documentation on readthedocs.org.
• Code changes only relevant for the auto-generated drivers.

Version 1.5.0.30 (17.09.2020)

• Added recognition of RsVisa library location for linux when using options string 'SelectVisa=rs'.
• Fixed bug in reading binary data 16 bit.

Version 1.4.0.29 (04.09.2020)

• Fixed error for instruments that do not support *OPT? query.

Version 1.3.0.28 (18.08.2020)

• Implemented SocketIO plugin which allows the remote-control without any VISA installation.
• Implemented finding resources as a static method of the RsInstrument class.

Version 1.2.0.25 (03.08.2020)

• Fixed reading of long strings for NRP-Zxx sessions.

Version 1.1.0.24 (16.06.2020)

• Fixed simulation mode switching.
• Added Repeated capability.

Version 1.0.0.21

• First released version.