Hide CatalogCollection from user

Author: snbianco

astroquery/mast/collections.py

@@ -72,7 +72,9 @@ def collection(self):
         """
         The current MAST collection to be queried.
         """
-        return self._collection
+        # Return the collection name instead of the object for easier user interaction,
+        # but keep the object internally for API calls
+        return self._collection.name
 
     @collection.setter
     def collection(self, collection):
@@ -99,7 +101,7 @@ def catalog(self, catalog):
         """
         Setter that verifies that the catalog is valid for the current collection.
         """
-        catalog = self.collection._verify_catalog(catalog)
+        catalog = self._collection._verify_catalog(catalog)
         self._catalog = catalog
 
     @property
@@ -147,7 +149,7 @@ def get_catalogs(self, collection=None):
             A table containing the available catalogs within the specified collection.
         """
         # If no collection specified, use the class attribute
-        collection_obj = self._get_collection_obj(collection) if collection else self.collection
+        collection_obj = self._get_collection_obj(collection) if collection else self._collection
         return collection_obj.catalogs
 
     @class_or_instance
@@ -924,7 +926,7 @@ def _parse_inputs(self, collection=None, catalog=None):
         tuple
             A tuple containing the (collection, catalog) to be queried.
         """
-        collection_obj = self._get_collection_obj(collection) if collection else self.collection
+        collection_obj = self._get_collection_obj(collection) if collection else self._collection
 
         if not catalog:
             # If the class attribute catalog is valid for the collection, use it

astroquery/mast/tests/test_mast.py

@@ -1477,7 +1477,8 @@ def test_catalogs_attributes(patch_tap):
         offset=1,
         sort_by="ra",
     )
-    assert isinstance(Catalogs.collection, CatalogCollection)
+    # Should not change after query
+    assert Catalogs.collection == "hsc"
     assert Catalogs.catalog == "dbo.SumMagAper2CatView"
 
 

astroquery/mast/tests/test_mast_remote.py

@@ -1056,22 +1056,22 @@ def test_observations_get_cloud_uris_no_duplicates(self, msa_product_table, rese
     def test_catalogs_collection(self):
         # Default collection should be HSC
         c = Catalogs()
-        assert c.collection.name == "hsc"
+        assert c.collection == "hsc"
         assert c.catalog == "dbo.SumMagAper2CatView"
 
         # Initialize with a different collection
         c = Catalogs(collection="gaiadr3")
-        assert c.collection.name == "gaiadr3"
+        assert c.collection == "gaiadr3"
         assert c.catalog == "dbo.gaia_source"
 
         # Initialize with a different collection and catalog
         c = Catalogs(collection="ullyses", catalog="publications")
-        assert c.collection.name == "ullyses"
+        assert c.collection == "ullyses"
         assert c.catalog == "dbo.publications"
 
         # Set the collection
         c.collection = "caom"
-        assert c.collection.name == "caom"
+        assert c.collection == "caom"
         assert c.catalog == "dbo.obspointing"
 
     def test_catalogs_get_collections(self):
@@ -1229,7 +1229,7 @@ def test_catalogs_query_region(self):
 
         # Region search with circle
         result = Catalogs.query_region(
-            collection="caom", region="CIRCLE ICRS 18.85 -6.95 0.1", limit=5, select_cols=select_cols
+            collection="caom", region="CIRCLE ICRS 18.85 -6.95 0.01", limit=5, select_cols=select_cols
         )
         assert isinstance(result, Table)
         assert len(result) <= 5