code: def get_config_value(name, path_to_file='config.txt'):
      
  
      # if the function is called from gui then the file has to be located with respect to the gui folder
      if not os.path.isfile(path_to_file):
          path_to_file = os.path.join('../instruments/', path_to_file)
  
      path_to_file = os.path.abspath(path_to_file)
  
      if not os.path.isfile(path_to_file):
          print(('path_to_file', path_to_file))
          #raise IOError('{:s}: config file is not valid'.format(path_to_file))
          return None
  
      f = open(path_to_file, 'r')
      string_of_file_contents = f.read()
  
      if name[-1] is not ':':
          name += ':'
  
      if name not in string_of_file_contents:
          return None
      else:
          config_value = [line.split(name)[1] for line in string_of_file_contents.split('\n')
                          if len(line.split(name)) > 1][0].strip()
          return config_value
docs: gets the value for "name" from "path_to_file" config file
      Args:
          name: name of varibale in config file
          path_to_file: path to config file
  
      Returns: path to dll if name exists in the file; otherwise, returns None