added help for basic instrument

1 files changed, 24 insertions, 8 deletions

diff --git a/qolab/hardware/basic.py b/qolab/hardware/basic.py
index 2161dca..2e99767 100644
--- a/qolab/hardware/basic.py
+++ b/qolab/hardware/basic.py
@@ -4,15 +4,31 @@ from qolab.file_utils import get_next_data_file
 from qolab.tsdb import tsdb_append_metric_for_class_setter_or_getter
 
 class BasicInstrument:
-    """ This is the most basic instrument class """
+    """This is the most basic instrument class.
+
+    Parameters
+    ----------
+    device_nickname : None (default) or str
+        used to distinguish similar (in hardware, e.g. scopes) instruments,
+        also used as a tag in Time Series DB (TSDB) logging.
+        If not set we fallback to 'Device type' in config.
+    tsdb_ingester : None or tsdb ingester
+        used to log properties (with setter/getter) to TSDB. If 'None', the log entry is skipped
+    config : dictionary, default is empty dictionary
+        used to add or override default entries describing instrument
+        It is good idea to set the following keys in the dictionary:
+        'Device type', 'Device model', 'DeviceId', 'DeviceNickname', 'FnamePrefix', 'SavePath'.
+
+    Example
+    -------
+    >>> config['Device type'] = 'Basic Instrument'
+    >>> config['Device model'] = 'Model is unset'
+    >>> config['DeviceId'] = None
+    >>> config['DeviceNickname'] = device_nickname; # to separate similar instruments
+    >>> config['FnamePrefix'] = 'basicInstrument'
+    >>> config['SavePath'] = './data'
+    """
     def __init__(self, config={}, device_nickname=None, tsdb_ingester=None):
-        """ 
-        device_nickname - used to separate similar instruments,
-                          also used as a tag in Time Series DB (TSDB) logging,
-                          if not set we fallbacl to 'Device type'
-        tsdb_ingester   - used to log to TSDB if not set, the log entry is skipped
-        config          - used to add or override default entries
-        """
         self.config = {}
         self.config['Device type'] = 'Basic Instrument'
         self.config['Device model'] = 'Model is unset'