Fix a bug of missing pulse library entry in PulseQobj parsing

qiskit/pulse/calibration_entries.py

@@ -22,6 +22,11 @@
 from qiskit.pulse.schedule import Schedule, ScheduleBlock
 from qiskit.qobj.converters import QobjToInstructionConverter
 from qiskit.qobj.pulse_qobj import PulseQobjInstruction
+from qiskit.exceptions import QiskitError
+
+
+IncompletePulseQobj = object()
+"""A None-like constant that represents the PulseQobj is incomplete."""
 
 
 class CalibrationPublisher(IntEnum):
@@ -316,11 +321,16 @@ def __init__(
     def _build_schedule(self):
         """Build pulse schedule from cmd-def sequence."""
         schedule = Schedule(name=self._name)
-        for qobj_inst in self._source:
-            for qiskit_inst in self._converter._get_sequences(qobj_inst):
-                schedule.insert(qobj_inst.t0, qiskit_inst, inplace=True)
-        self._definition = schedule
-        self._parse_argument()
+        try:
+            for qobj_inst in self._source:
+                for qiskit_inst in self._converter._get_sequences(qobj_inst):
+                    schedule.insert(qobj_inst.t0, qiskit_inst, inplace=True)
+            self._definition = schedule
+            self._parse_argument()
+        except QiskitError:
+            # When the play waveform data is missing in pulse_lib we cannot build schedule.
+            # Instead of raising an error, get_schedule should return None.
+            self._definition = IncompletePulseQobj
 
     def define(
         self,
@@ -336,9 +346,11 @@ def get_signature(self) -> inspect.Signature:
             self._build_schedule()
         return super().get_signature()
 
-    def get_schedule(self, *args, **kwargs) -> Schedule | ScheduleBlock:
+    def get_schedule(self, *args, **kwargs) -> Schedule | ScheduleBlock | None:
         if self._definition is None:
             self._build_schedule()
+        if self._definition is IncompletePulseQobj:
+            return None
         return super().get_schedule(*args, **kwargs)
 
     def __eq__(self, other):
@@ -356,4 +368,6 @@ def __str__(self):
         if self._definition is None:
             # Avoid parsing schedule for pretty print.
             return "PulseQobj"
+        if self._definition is IncompletePulseQobj:
+            return "None"
         return super().__str__()

qiskit/qobj/converters/pulse_instruction.py

@@ -959,8 +959,12 @@ def _convert_generic(
 
             yield instructions.Play(waveform, channel)
         else:
+            if qubits := getattr(instruction, "qubits", None):
+                msg = f"qubits {qubits}"
+            else:
+                msg = f"channel {instruction.ch}"
             raise QiskitError(
-                f"Instruction {instruction.name} on qubit {instruction.qubits} is not found  "
+                f"Instruction {instruction.name} on {msg} is not found "
                 "in Qiskit namespace. This instruction cannot be deserialized."
             )
 

releasenotes/notes/fix-missing-pulse-lib-c370f5b9393d0df6.yaml

@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+---
+fixes:
+  - |
+    Fixed a bug that results in an error when a user tries to load .calibration
+    data of a gate in :class:`.Target` in a particular situation.
+    This occurs when the backend doesn't support pulse waveform payload, while
+    Qiskit doesn't have corresponding parametric pulse definition.
+    In this situation, Qiskit pulse object cannot be built, resulting in the failure in
+    parsing PulseQobj and the user encounters a meaningless error.
+    This error was suppressed, and the .calibration now returns None value instead,
+    which implies the calibration data is not properly supplied.

test/python/pulse/test_calibration_entries.py

@@ -434,3 +434,37 @@ def test_equality_with_schedule(self):
         entry2.define(program)
 
         self.assertEqual(entry1, entry2)
+
+    def test_calibration_missing_waveform(self):
+        """Test that calibration with missing waveform should become None.
+
+        When a hardware doesn't support waveform payload and Qiskit doesn't have
+        the corresponding parametric pulse definition, CmdDef with missing waveform
+        might be input to the QobjConverter. This fails in loading the calibration data
+        because necessary pulse object cannot be built.
+
+        In this situation, parsed calibration data must become None,
+        instead of raising an error.
+        """
+        serialized_program = [
+            PulseQobjInstruction(
+                name="SomeMissingPulse",
+                t0=0,
+                ch="d0",
+            )
+        ]
+        entry = PulseQobjDef(name="qobj_entry")
+        entry.define(serialized_program)
+
+        # This is pulse qobj before parsing it
+        self.assertEqual(str(entry), "PulseQobj")
+
+        # Actual calibration value is None
+        parsed_output = entry.get_schedule()
+        self.assertIsNone(parsed_output)
+
+        # Repr becomes None-like after it finds calibration is incomplete
+        self.assertEqual(str(entry), "None")
+
+        # Signature is also None
+        self.assertIsNone(entry.get_signature())