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Welcome to Autolab's documentation!
===================================

**"Forget your instruments, focus on your experiment!"**

Autolab is a Python package dedicated to remotely controlling any laboratory instruments and automating scientific experiments in the most user-friendly way. This package provides a set of standardized drivers for about 50 instruments (for now) which are ready to use, and is open to inputs from the community (new drivers or upgrades of existing ones). The configuration required to communicate with a given instrument (connection type, address, ...) can be saved locally to avoid providing it each time. Autolab can also be used either through a Python shell, an OS shell, or a graphical interface.

.. figure:: scheme.png
	:figclass: align-center

In this package, the interaction with a scientific instrument can be done through two different objects : the **Drivers**, or the **Devices**.

	* The :ref:`lowlevel` provides a raw access to the package's drivers functions.

	.. code-block:: python

		>>> import autolab

		>>> laserSource = autolab.get_driver('yenista_TUNICS',connection='VISA',address='GPIB0::12::INSTR')
		>>> laserSource.set_wavelength(1550)
		>>> laserSource.get_wavelength()
		1550

		>>> powerMeter = autolab.get_driver('newport_1918C', connection='DLL')
		>>> powerMeter.get_power()
		156.89e-6

		>>> stage = autolab.get_driver('newport_XPS', connection='SOCKET')
		>>> stage.go_home()

	* The :ref:`highlevel`, is an abstraction layer of the low-level interface that provides a simple and straightforward way to communicate with an instrument, through a hierarchy of Modules, Variables and Actions objects.

	.. code-block:: python

		>>> import autolab

		# Create the Device 'my_tunics' defined in 'devices_config.ini'
		>>> laserSource = autolab.get_device('my_tunics')
		>>> laserSource.wavelength(1550)			# Set the Variable 'wavelength'
		>>> laserSource.wavelength()				# Read the Variable 'wavelength'
		1550

		>>> powerMeter = autolab.get_device('my_powermeter')	# Create the Device 'my_powermeter'
		>>> powerMeter.power()					# Read the Variable 'power'
		156.89e-6

		>>> stage = autolab.get_device('my_stage')		# Create the Device 'my_stage'
		>>> stage.home()					# Execute the Action 'home'

	The user can also interact even more easily with this high-level interface through a user-friendly :ref:`gui` which contains three panels: a Control Panel (graphical equivalent of the high-level interface), a Monitor (to monitor the value of a Variable in time) and a Scanner (to scan a Parameter and execute a custom Recipe).

	.. figure:: gui/scanning.png
		:figclass: align-center

All of Autolab's features are also available through an :ref:`shell_scripts` interface (Windows and Linux) that can be used to perform for instance a quick single-shot operation without explicitly opening a Python shell.

	.. code-block:: none

		>>> autolab driver -D yenista_TUNICS -C VISA -A GPIB0::12::INSTR -w 1551
		>>> autolab device -D my_tunics -e wavelength -v 1551

.. note::
	**Useful Links**:

	* `Slides from our Autolab seminar (March 2020) <https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Uc6f0dEn6C18_0fr1pFuYSLmQ2AhIkVi9B5xTKfUIqw/edit?usp=sharing>`_
	* Github project: `github.com/autolab-project/autolab <https://github.com/autolab-project/autolab>`_
	* PyPi project: `pypi.org/project/autolab/ <https://pypi.org/project/autolab/>`_
	* Online documentation: `autolab.readthedocs.io/ <https://autolab.readthedocs.io/en/latest/>`_


Table of contents:

.. toctree::
   :maxdepth: 1

   installation
   low_level/index
   high_level
   local_config
   gui/index
   shell/index
   help_report
   release_notes
   about

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