# Modifying `AutoScriptMicroscope`

`AutoScriptMicroscope` (`asyncroscopy/instruments/electron_microscope/auto_script.py`) is the AutoScript vendor
subclass of [`ElectronMicroscope`](modify_base_electron_microscope.md). It owns the AutoScript
connection and implements the `_helper` methods the base declares abstract.

**Image helpers end via `_persist`; spectrum and STEM-data helpers via
`save_acquisition` directly.** `_persist` reads `scan.output_format` and
dispatches: `.h5` → `save_acquisition` (one HDF5 file, nested per detector),
`.tiff` → AutoScript `image.save()` (one file per detector). Either path
registers via the `data` proxy (`asyncroscopy/data/data.py`) and returns the
**Tiled key (`.h5`) or shared stem (`.tiff`)** the command sends to the client.
`save_acquisition` lives in `asyncroscopy/data/data_writer.py`; `data_server`
comes from `self._detector_proxies.get("data")`. See
[data_integration.md](../Tiled_server/data_integration.md).

If you're editing this class, you're usually doing one of these:

1. **Adding or modifying an attribute**
   Expose device state clients can read. The live-state reads
   (`fov`, `defocus`, `camera_length`, `acceleration_voltage`, `beam_state`)
   pull from `self._microscope` and must return `nan`/`False` when it is `None`
   (testing mode) — guard every such read. `register_stage` is the matching
   command: it pushes the live stage position onto the STAGE child device.

2. **Updating an attribute read/write method**
   (Control how a value is validated, stored, or synced with AutoScript.)

3. **Implementing or changing a `_helper`**
   Implement the base's abstract `_helper` (or override an optional one).
   Image helpers must finish via `_persist` (honors `output_format`); spectrum
   and STEM-data helpers via `save_acquisition`. Examples already present:
   `_acquire_scanned_image`, `_acquire_camera_image`,
   `_acquire_scanned_data_advanced`, `_acquire_spectrum`.

4. **Adding a new detector**
   Add a device property for its address (on the base), register it in
   `_connect_detector_proxies`, and read it in the relevant helper.
   ```python
   "newdet": self.newdet_device_address,
   ```

5. **Adding or changing acquisition settings**
   Extend what is read from the detector devices — dwell time, resolution,
   scan region, exposure — and pass it into the AutoScript `*Settings` object
   inside the helper. Pick the right `dataset_name` for `save_acquisition`
   (e.g. `"image"`, `"spectrum"`, `"stem_data"`); multi-detector results are
   stored under `image/<DETECTOR>`.