Handle Visa IO Error on first connection

src/tm_devices/device_manager.py

@@ -1072,20 +1072,30 @@ def __clear_visa_output_buffer_and_get_idn(visa_resource: MessageBasedResource)
         Raises:
             SystemError: Indicates that the buffer was unable to be cleared.
         """
-        if 16 & visa_resource.read_stb():
-            # 16 is the MAV bit (Message Available) from the Status Byte register
-            # MAV flag is only one bit and turns off after a single response is successfully read,
-            # even if there's more in the buffer
+        # use a try-except block to avoid any errors caused by Visa instruments that may not
+        # respond correctly to the read_stb or clear functions.
+        try:
+            if 16 & visa_resource.read_stb():
+                # 16 is the MAV bit (Message Available) from the Status Byte register
+                # MAV flag is only one bit and turns off after a single response is
+                # successfully read, even if there is more in the buffer.
+                warnings.warn(
+                    f"\nThe device `{visa_resource.resource_info.resource_name}` had data "
+                    "sitting in the VISA Output Buffer on first connection. "
+                    "\nDetected data in the buffer via the Status Byte register. "
+                    "\nThe device_clear() will be called so VISA I/O buffers get flushed.",
+                    stacklevel=1,
+                )
+            # always flush the VISA I/O Buffers on the device to clean up any stale data.
+            # (note: the Events are kept in different buffers, so *ESR? is not impacted)
+            visa_resource.clear()
+        except visa.VisaIOError as e:
             warnings.warn(
-                f"\nThe device `{visa_resource.resource_info.resource_name}` had data "
-                "sitting in the VISA Output Buffer on first connection. "
-                "\nDetected data in the buffer via the Status Byte register. "
-                "\nThe device_clear() will be called so VISA I/O buffers get flushed.",
+                f"A VISA IO error occurred when attempting to read the status byte or clear the "
+                f"output buffer of the resource `{visa_resource.resource_info.resource_name}`.\n"
+                f"Error: {e}",
                 stacklevel=1,
             )
-        # always flush the VISA I/O Buffers on the device to clean up any stale data.
-        # (note: the Events are kept in different buffers, so *ESR? is not impacted)
-        visa_resource.clear()
         visa_resource.write("*IDN?")
         idn_response = ""
         error_msg = None

tests/test_device_manager.py

@@ -459,12 +459,44 @@ def test_failed_cleanup(self, device_manager: DeviceManager) -> None:
             device_manager.cleanup_all_devices()
         device_manager.remove_device(alias="bad-afg")
 
+    def test_warnings(self, device_manager: DeviceManager) -> None:
+        """Verify some of the warning printouts that the DeviceManager can log.
+
+        Args:
+            device_manager: The DeviceManager object.
+        """
+        # Remove all previous devices
+        device_manager.remove_all_devices()
+        # Test the warning logged with bad read_stb() call
+        with mock.patch(
+            "pyvisa.resources.messagebased.MessageBasedResource.read_stb",
+            mock.MagicMock(side_effect=visa.VisaIOError(pyvisa.constants.VI_ERROR_INV_SETUP)),
+        ), pytest.warns(
+            UserWarning,
+            match="A VISA IO error occurred when attempting to read the status byte or "
+            "clear the output buffer of the resource",
+        ):
+            device_manager.add_afg("afg3kc-hostname", alias="warning_bad_read_stb")
+        device_manager.remove_device(alias="warning_bad_read_stb")
+
+        # Test the warning logged with message available (MAV) bit set
+        # patched the stb to return 16 (message available)
+        with mock.patch(
+            "pyvisa.resources.messagebased.MessageBasedResource.read_stb",
+            mock.MagicMock(return_value=16),
+        ), pytest.warns(
+            UserWarning, match="had data sitting in the VISA Output Buffer on first connection."
+        ):
+            device_manager.add_afg("afg3kc-hostname", alias="warning_mav")
+        device_manager.remove_device(alias="warning_mav")
+
     def test_exceptions(self, device_manager: DeviceManager) -> None:
         """Verify some of the exceptions that the DeviceManager can raise.
 
         Args:
             device_manager: The DeviceManager object.
         """
+        # Remove all previous devices
         device_manager.remove_all_devices()
 
         # Test getting a device type that was not the specified type
@@ -502,7 +534,7 @@ def test_exceptions(self, device_manager: DeviceManager) -> None:
             mock.MagicMock(return_value=5),
         ), mock.patch(
             "pyvisa.resources.messagebased.MessageBasedResource.read",
-            mock.MagicMock(side_effect=visa.VisaIOError(pyvisa.constants.StatusCode.error_timeout)),
+            mock.MagicMock(side_effect=visa.VisaIOError(pyvisa.constants.VI_ERROR_TMO)),
         ):
             # patched the stb to return 16 (message available)
             with pytest.warns(UserWarning), pytest.raises(SystemError) as error: