Expanded import_or_raise to catch all exceptions

docs/source/changelog.rst

@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ Changelog
         * Add util methods to graph ROC and confusion matrix :pr:`720`
         * Refactor `AutoBase` to `AutoSearchBase` :pr:`758`
         * Refactor most of `AutoSearchBase._do_iteration` impl into `AutoSearchBase._evaluate` :pr:`762`
+        * Expanded `import_or_raise` to catch all exceptions :pr:`759`
     * Documentation Changes
         * Add instructions to freeze `master` on `release.md` :pr:`726`
         * Update release instructions with more details :pr:`727` :pr:`733`

evalml/tests/utils_tests/test_gen_utils.py

@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import inspect
+from unittest.mock import patch
 
 import numpy as np
 import pytest
@@ -13,11 +14,22 @@
 )
 
 
-def test_import_or_raise_errors():
+@patch('importlib.import_module')
+def test_import_or_raise_errors(dummy_importlib):
+    def _mock_import_function(library_str):
+        if library_str == "_evalml":
+            raise ImportError("Mock ImportError executed!")
+        if library_str == "attr_error_lib":
+            raise Exception("Mock Exception executed!")
+
+    dummy_importlib.side_effect = _mock_import_function
+
     with pytest.raises(ImportError, match="Missing optional dependency '_evalml'"):
         import_or_raise("_evalml")
     with pytest.raises(ImportError, match="Missing optional dependency '_evalml'. Please use pip to install _evalml. Additional error message"):
         import_or_raise("_evalml", "Additional error message")
+    with pytest.raises(Exception, match="An exception occurred while trying to import `attr_error_lib`: Mock Exception executed!"):
+        import_or_raise("attr_error_lib")
 
 
 def test_import_or_raise_imports():

evalml/utils/gen_utils.py

@@ -20,6 +20,9 @@ def import_or_raise(library, error_msg=None):
             error_msg = ""
         msg = (f"Missing optional dependency '{library}'. Please use pip to install {library}. {error_msg}")
         raise ImportError(msg)
+    except Exception as ex:
+        msg = (f"An exception occurred while trying to import `{library}`: {str(ex)}")
+        raise Exception(msg)
 
 
 def convert_to_seconds(input_str):