The instrument drivers in :mod:`pymanip` are directly those of :mod:`fluidlab.instruments`. An instance object represents an actual physical instrument, and the features that can be read or set are represented as instance attributes. These attributes have consistant names for all our instrument drivers, summarized in the table below
| Physical measurement | Attribute name |
|---|---|
| DC Voltage | vdc |
| AC Voltage | vrms |
| DC Current | idc |
| AC Current | irms |
| 2-wire impedence | ohm |
| 4-wire impedence | ohm_4w |
| Signal phase shift | angle |
| Frequency | freq |
| On Off switch | onoff |
| Pressure | pressure |
| Temperature | temperature |
| Setpoint | setpoint |
Some device may have specific feature name in special cases, but we try to keep using similar names for similar features. Each feature then can be accessed by :meth:`get` and :meth:`set` methods, as appropriate. The :meth:`get` will query the instrument for the value. The :meth:`set` method will set the value. It is a design choice to use getters and setters, instead of python properties, to make the actual communication command more explicit.
For example to read a voltage on a multimeter:
Vdc = multimeter.vdc.get()And to set the voltage setpoint to 1 volt on a power supply:
powersupply.vdc.set(1.0)Unless otherwise specified, :meth:`vdc.get()` will always read an actual voltage, and not the voltage setpoint. This is a design choice because we think the users should know what setpoint they have set in the general case. In case it is necessary to actually query the instrument for its setpoint, an additionnal :attr:`setpoint` attribute may be defined.
The implementation details of the instrument drivers, and how they are mixed with the interface and feature classes is described in the :mod:`fluidlab.instruments` module documentation.
:mod:`pymanip.instruments` defines shortcut classes, as well as an asynchronous extension to the :mod:`fluidlab.instruments` classes.
.. toctree:: :maxdepth: 1 :caption: Contents shortcut instrument_list aioinstruments aioinstruments_implementation