Index: sodar/trunk/sodar/data.py
===================================================================
--- sodar/trunk/sodar/data.py (revision 61)
+++ sodar/trunk/sodar/data.py (revision 62)
@@ -22,18 +22,10 @@
 
     def __getitem__(self,index):
-        """allow retrieval by sample time in header
+        """allow sample retrieval by sample time in header
         """
         try:
-            int(index)
-        except ValueError: # string like YYYY-MM can't convert to int
+            return super(Data,self).__getitem__(index)
+        except TypeError:
             return self.find(index)
-        except TypeError: # something other than integer or string
-            raise TypeError,'Data index must be integer or YYYY-MM-DD-HH-MM'
-        try:
-            return super(Data,self).__getitem__(index)
-        except IndexError: # integer index out of range
-            raise IndexError, 'Data index out of range'
-        except TypeError: # string representation of integer index
-            raise ValueError,'Data index must be integer or YYYY-MM-DD-HH-MM'
 
     def find(self,index):
@@ -46,4 +38,6 @@
         except ValueError:
             raise ValueError,'Data index by date must be "YYYY-MM-DD-HH-MM"'
+        except AttributeError:
+            raise AttributeError,'Data index by date must be "YYYY-MM-DD-HH-MM"'
         for sample in self:
             if sample.header['YEAR'].rjust(4,'0') != year: continue
@@ -125,15 +119,5 @@
         try:
             return super(Body,self).__getitem__(index)
-        except IndexError: # integer index out of range
-            raise IndexError, 'Body index out of range'
-        except TypeError: # possible string representation of integer index
-            try:
-                int(index) # is string?
-            except ValueError: #bad string
-                raise ValueError, \
-                      'Body index must be position integer or altitude string'
-            except TypeError: # not a string
-                raise TypeError, \
-                      'Body index must be position integer or altitude string'
+        except TypeError:
             return self.find(index)