pyads - 'Connection' object has no attribute '_open' Attribute Error

I created a basic python script to connect to PLC using pyads from my backend server. However, I am getting an Attribute Error: 'Connection' object has error has no attribute '_open'

Additional Details:

Ubuntu 20.04.2 LTS

Error Output -

  File "testOne.py", line 28, in <module>
    connect_to_plc(plc_ip, ams_net_id, ams_port)
  File "testOne.py", line 19, in connect_to_plc
    except pyads.AdsException as e:
AttributeError: module 'pyads' has no attribute 'AdsException'
Exception ignored in: <function Connection.__del__ at 0x7f3985d93e60>
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/home/ubuntu/virtual_env/venv_with_python3.7/lib/python3.7/site-packages/pyads/connection.py", line 168, in __del__
    self.close()
  File "/home/ubuntu/virtual_env/venv_with_python3.7/lib/python3.7/site-packages/pyads/connection.py", line 204, in close
    if not self._open:
AttributeError: 'Connection' object has no attribute '_open'

My Code -

import pyads

def connect_to_plc(plc_ip, ams_net_id, ams_port):
    try:
        # Connect to the PLC
        ads = pyads.Connection(plc_ip, ams_net_id, ams_port)

        # Open a connection
        ads.open()

        print(f"Connected to PLC {plc_ip} on {ams_net_id}:{ams_port}")

        # Add your PLC communication logic here

        # Close the connection when done
        ads.close()
        print("Connection closed.")

    except pyads.AdsException as e:
        print(f"Error: {e}")

if __name__ == "__main__":
    # Replace these values with your PLC information
    plc_ip = "<ip>"  # Replace with your PLC IP address
    ams_net_id = "<net_id>"  # Replace with your AMS Net ID
    ams_port = 851  # Replace with your PLC AMS port number

    connect_to_plc(plc_ip, ams_net_id, ams_port)

Troubleshooting steps taken:

I checked pyads github and found a recent issue regarding pyads not working.

The suggested solution was downgrade the python version to 3.7

I followed the instructions from this thread to create a virtual environment and install python3.7.

However, the same error code appeared.

Checked my PLC IP address and AMS net ID. All are correct and I am able to ping my PLC without any issue

You have to create a route before trying to connect. You can follow the steps in pyads documentation page.

I created the route using add_route_to_plc function before establishing the connection. Example is below

ROUTE_NAME = "route-to-my-plc"

pyads.add_route_to_plc(
    CLIENT_NETID, CLIENT_IP, TARGET_IP, TARGET_USERNAME, TARGET_PASSWORD,
    route_name=ROUTE_NAME
)

Problem solved