srsinst.interfaces

Shared VXI-11 and VISA interface classes for SRS instrument drivers.

This package provides Vxi11Interface and VisaInterface — thin wrappers around python-vxi11 and pyvisa respectively — for use by srsinst.* instrument drivers. It lives in the srsinst namespace alongside the drivers that depend on it.

Installation

pip install srsinst.interfaces

For development (editable install):

git clone https://github.com/thinkSRS/srsinst.interfaces.git
cd srsinst.interfaces
pip install -e .

Backing libraries

python-vxi11 and pyvisa are not installed automatically — only install what your hardware actually needs:

pip install python-vxi11   # for VXI-11 (Ethernet)
pip install pyvisa         # for VISA (GPIB, USB, etc.)

If a backing library is missing, a clear ImportError is raised only when that interface class is instantiated, not at import time. Users who connect exclusively over TCP/IP or RS-232 need neither library.

Usage

srsinst.interfaces is not typically used directly — instrument drivers import from it automatically. If you are writing a new srsinst.* driver, import the classes you need:

from srsinst.interfaces import Vxi11Interface, VisaInterface

and add srsinst.interfaces to your pyproject.toml dependencies:

[project]
dependencies = [
    "srsgui>=0.4.5",
    "srsinst.interfaces",
]

Contents

Both classes inherit from srsgui's Interface base class and integrate with the srsgui instrument connection framework.

License

MIT License — Copyright (c) 2026 Stanford Research Systems