- fixes

src/utils_qualtest.py

@@ -154,11 +154,13 @@ class QualtestBackend:
             try:
                 response = urllib.request.urlopen(url, timeout=utils.NETWORK_TIMEOUT)
                 if response.getcode() != 200:
-                    utils.log_error("Failed to get task list. Error code: %s" % response.getcode())
-                    return None
+                    raise RuntimeError(f'Failed to load phone definition. Error code: {response.getcode()}')
             except Exception as e:
-                utils.log_error(f'Problem when loading the phone definition.')
-                return cache.get_phone(self.instance)
+                utils.log_error(f'Problem when loading the phone definition from backend. Error: {str(e)}')
+                r = cache.get_phone(self.instance)
+                if r is None:
+                    raise RuntimeError(f'No cached phone definition.')
+                return r
             
             # Get possible list of phones
             phones = json.loads(response.read().decode())
@@ -199,8 +201,8 @@ class QualtestBackend:
             return result
 
         except Exception as err:
-            utils.log_error("Exception when fetching task list: {0}".format(err))
-            return dict()
+            utils.log_error(f"Exception when fetching task list: {str(err)}")
+            return None
 
 
     def load_audio(self, audio_id: int, output_path: Path):