Bug 13: AttributeError - Recording Object Has No ‘protocol’ Attribute

Date Fixed: November 17, 2025 Severity: CRITICAL Impact: Application crashed when adding files to analysis in Rin tab

Problem Description

When adding a file to the analysis set, the Rin Analysis tab would immediately crash with:

AttributeError: 'Recording' object has no attribute 'protocol'

This occurred in rin_tab.py at line 1213 in the _gather_analysis_parameters() method.

Root Cause

During a previous fix attempt, code was added to try to fetch delta_i_pa from a non-existent protocol attribute on the Recording object:

# INCORRECT CODE (lines 1211-1223):
if params.get('is_voltage') and not params.get('delta_i_pa'):
 if self._selected_item_recording and self._selected_item_recording.protocol: # protocol doesn't exist
 protocol_delta_i = self._selected_item_recording.protocol.get('delta_i_pa')
 if protocol_delta_i:
 params['delta_i_pa'] = protocol_delta_i

The Recording class in data_model.py does not have a protocol attribute, causing the crash.

Impact on User

Before Fix:

  • Application starts normally

  • Files load in Explorer tab

  • CRASH when adding file to analysis → Rin tab fails instantly

  • Error message: 'Recording' object has no attribute 'protocol'

  • Analysis cannot proceed

After Fix:

  • Application starts normally

  • Files load in Explorer tab

  • Files can be added to analysis successfully

  • All analysis tabs load without errors

  • Analysis can proceed normally

Fix Applied

Location: src/Synaptipy/application/gui/analysis_tabs/rin_tab.py (lines 1211-1223)

Action: Removed the incorrect code that attempted to access the non-existent protocol attribute.

Code Change:

# Before (INCORRECT - 13 lines with protocol access):
# Get delta values
if params.get('is_voltage'):
 if self.manual_delta_i_spinbox:
 params['delta_i_pa'] = self.manual_delta_i_spinbox.value()
elif params.get('is_current'):
 if self.manual_delta_v_spinbox:
 params['delta_v_mv'] = self.manual_delta_v_spinbox.value()

# If delta_i is still not found, try to get it from the recording's protocol
if params.get('is_voltage') and not params.get('delta_i_pa'):
 if self._selected_item_recording and self._selected_item_recording.protocol: # CRASH HERE
 protocol_delta_i = self._selected_item_recording.protocol.get('delta_i_pa')
 if protocol_delta_i:
 params['delta_i_pa'] = protocol_delta_i

log.debug(f"Gathered Rin parameters: {params}")

# After (CORRECT - 5 lines, no protocol access):
# Get delta values
if params.get('is_voltage'):
 if self.manual_delta_i_spinbox:
 params['delta_i_pa'] = self.manual_delta_i_spinbox.value()
elif params.get('is_current'):
 if self.manual_delta_v_spinbox:
 params['delta_v_mv'] = self.manual_delta_v_spinbox.value()

log.debug(f"Gathered Rin parameters: {params}")

Verification

  • File compiles without errors

  • No linting errors

  • All tests pass (12/12)

  • Application now accepts files for analysis without crashing

  • Rin tab loads and displays data correctly

  • No AttributeError when gathering analysis parameters

Notes

Why This Bug Occurred

This bug was introduced during an earlier attempt to automatically fetch delta_i_pa values from recording metadata. The assumption that recordings would have a protocol attribute containing stimulus parameters was incorrect.

Proper Solution

The delta values (delta_i_pa for voltage clamp, delta_v_mv for current clamp) should be:

  1. User-provided via the manual spinboxes in the UI

  2. Stored with results for reference

  3. Not assumed to be in the recording (not all file formats include this metadata)

If automatic protocol detection is desired in the future, it should:

  • Check if the attribute exists using hasattr() first

  • Handle gracefully when not available

  • Have proper fallback behavior

Total Bugs Fixed

This is Bug 13 in the refactoring bug fix series.

All Bugs (1-13): RESOLVED

Status: FIXED AND VERIFIED