Unified Exception Hierarchy

Instrumation provides a standardized set of exceptions to handle hardware and communication errors gracefully. Instead of catching generic Exception or driver-specific errors, you should use the hierarchy defined in instrumation.exceptions.

Available Exceptions

All exceptions inherit from InstrumentError.

Exception	Description
InstrumentError	Base class for all instrument-related errors.
InstrumentTimeout	Raised when an operation (query/write) times out.
ConnectionLost	Raised when the connection is dropped or cannot be established.
OverloadError	Raised when the instrument detects an input overload condition.
ConfigurationError	Raised when an invalid parameter or command is sent.

Usage Example

from instrumation.factory import get_instrument
from instrumation.exceptions import InstrumentTimeout, ConnectionLost

try:
    with get_instrument("TCPIP0::192.168.1.100::INSTR", "DMM") as dmm:
        val = dmm.measure_voltage()
        print(f"Reading: {val}")
except InstrumentTimeout:
    print("The instrument did not respond in time.")
except ConnectionLost:
    print("Lost connection to the instrument. Check your network.")
except Exception as e:
    print(f"An unexpected error occurred: {e}")

Why use this?

In large-scale automated test environments, distinguishing between a timeout (slow response) and a connection loss (physical disconnection) is critical for deciding whether to retry a test or abort the entire station.