Merge pull request #7318 from jenshnielsen/jenshnielsen/deprecate_at_lower_level

Use a not visible warning in code that is not planned to be removed

Author: jenshnielsen

docs/changes/newsfragments/7318.breaking

@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+The methods ``InstrumentBase.__getitem__``, ``InstrumentBase.get``, ``InstrumentBase.set``, ``InstrumentBase.call`` are now deprecated
+with a PendingDeprecationWarning rather than a QCoDeSDeprecationWarning. This better reflects the state where there is no plan to remove
+them but usage is discouraged. The PendingDeprecationWarning is not printed to console by default.

src/qcodes/instrument/instrument_base.py

@@ -677,8 +677,10 @@ def _is_abstract(self) -> bool:
     delegate_attr_dicts: ClassVar[list[str]] = ["parameters", "functions", "submodules"]
 
     @deprecated(
-        "Use attributes directly on the instrument object instead.",
-        category=QCoDeSDeprecationWarning,
+        "Use of `__getitem__` is not recommended for new code. "
+        "Use attributes directly on the instrument object instead. "
+        "There is no plan to remove this functionality, but it is not recommended.",
+        category=PendingDeprecationWarning,
     )
     def __getitem__(self, key: str) -> Callable[..., Any] | Parameter:
         """
@@ -695,8 +697,10 @@ def __getitem__(self, key: str) -> Callable[..., Any] | Parameter:
             return self.functions[key]
 
     @deprecated(
-        "Call set directly on the parameter.",
-        category=QCoDeSDeprecationWarning,
+        "Use of `set` is not recommended for new code. "
+        "Call set directly on the parameter instead. "
+        "There is no plan to remove this functionality, but it is not recommended for new code.",
+        category=PendingDeprecationWarning,
     )
     def set(self, param_name: str, value: Any) -> None:
         """
@@ -714,8 +718,10 @@ def set(self, param_name: str, value: Any) -> None:
         self.parameters[param_name].set(value)
 
     @deprecated(
-        "Call get directly on the parameter.",
-        category=QCoDeSDeprecationWarning,
+        "Use of `get` is not recommended for new code. "
+        "Call get directly on the parameter."
+        "There is no plan to remove this functionality, but it is not recommended for new code.",
+        category=PendingDeprecationWarning,
     )
     def get(self, param_name: str) -> Any:
         """
@@ -734,8 +740,10 @@ def get(self, param_name: str) -> Any:
         return self.parameters[param_name].get()
 
     @deprecated(
-        "Call the function directly.",
-        category=QCoDeSDeprecationWarning,
+        "Use of `call` is not recommended for new code. "
+        "Call the function directly instead. "
+        "There is no plan to remove this functionality, but it is not recommended for new code.",
+        category=PendingDeprecationWarning,
     )
     def call(self, func_name: str, *args: Any) -> Any:
         """

tests/test_instrument.py

@@ -30,7 +30,6 @@
 )
 from qcodes.metadatable import Metadatable
 from qcodes.parameters import Function, Parameter
-from qcodes.utils import QCoDeSDeprecationWarning
 
 if TYPE_CHECKING:
     from collections.abc import Iterator
@@ -274,15 +273,15 @@ def test_add_remove_f_p(testdummy) -> None:
 
     # test custom __get_attr__ for functions
     with pytest.warns(
-        QCoDeSDeprecationWarning,
+        PendingDeprecationWarning,
         match="Use attributes directly on the instrument object instead",
     ):
         fcn = testdummy["function"]
         assert isinstance(fcn, Function)
     # by design, one gets the parameter if a function exists
     # and has same name
     with pytest.warns(
-        QCoDeSDeprecationWarning,
+        PendingDeprecationWarning,
         match="Use attributes directly on the instrument object instead",
     ):
         dac1 = testdummy["dac1"]