many minor fixes:

 * ALMA cannot use beta server any more
 * incorrect variable used in one ALMA test
 * more verbose error reporting for commons.send_request (even though this
   is meant to be replaced)
 * raise for status instead of trying to parse things after server
   errors in nasa_ads

Author: keflavich

astroquery/alma/tests/test_alma_remote.py

@@ -33,7 +33,10 @@
 class TestAlma:
 
     def setup_class(cls):
-        Alma.archive_url = 'http://beta.cadc-ccda.hia-iha.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca'
+        pass
+        # starting somewhere between Nov 2015 and Jan 2016, the beta server
+        # stopped serving the actual data, making all staging attempts break
+        #Alma.archive_url = 'http://beta.cadc-ccda.hia-iha.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca'
 
     @pytest.fixture()
     def temp_dir(self, request):
@@ -68,7 +71,7 @@ def test_m83(self, temp_dir):
 
         m83_data = alma.query_object('M83')
         uids = np.unique(m83_data['Member ous id'])
-        link_list = Alma.stage_data(uids)
+        link_list = alma.stage_data(uids)
 
     def test_stage_data(self, temp_dir):
         alma = Alma()

astroquery/nasa_ads/core.py

@@ -48,6 +48,8 @@ def query_simple(self, query_string, get_query_payload=False,
                                  data=request_payload, timeout=self.TIMEOUT,
                                  cache=cache)
 
+        response.raise_for_status()
+
         # primarily for debug purposes, but also useful if you want to send
         # someone a URL linking directly to the data
         if get_query_payload:

astroquery/utils/commons.py

@@ -103,8 +103,8 @@ def send_request(url, data, timeout, request_type='POST', headers={},
     except requests.exceptions.Timeout:
         raise TimeoutError("Query timed out, time elapsed {time}s".
                            format(time=timeout))
-    except requests.exceptions.RequestException:
-        raise Exception("Query failed\n")
+    except requests.exceptions.RequestException as ex:
+        raise Exception("Query failed: {0}\n".format(ex))
 
 
 def parse_radius(radius):