DevEncoded attribute should produce a bytes object in python 3

ext/device_attribute.cpp

@@ -246,7 +246,10 @@ namespace PyDeviceAttribute
 
         Tango::DevVarCharArray& r_encoded_data_array = r_buffer.encoded_data;
         char* r_ch_ptr = (char*)r_encoded_data_array.get_buffer();
-        bopy::str r_encoded_data(r_ch_ptr, r_encoded_data_array.length());
+
+        bopy::object r_encoded_data(
+            bopy::handle<>(PyBytes_FromStringAndSize(
+                r_ch_ptr, r_encoded_data_array.length())));
 
         py_value.attr(value_attr_name) =
             bopy::make_tuple(r_encoded_format, r_encoded_data);
@@ -268,7 +271,11 @@ namespace PyDeviceAttribute
 
                 Tango::DevVarCharArray& w_encoded_data_array = w_buffer.encoded_data;
                 char* w_ch_ptr = (char*)w_encoded_data_array.get_buffer();
-                bopy::str w_encoded_data(w_ch_ptr, w_encoded_data_array.length());
+
+                bopy::object w_encoded_data(
+                    bopy::handle<>(PyBytes_FromStringAndSize(
+                        w_ch_ptr, w_encoded_data_array.length())));
+
                 py_value.attr(w_value_attr_name) =
                     bopy::make_tuple(w_encoded_format, w_encoded_data);
             }

tests/test_server.py

@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 import pytest
 import enum
 
-from tango import DevState, AttrWriteType, GreenMode, DevFailed
+from tango import DevState, AttrWriteType, GreenMode, DevFailed, DevEncoded
 from tango.server import Device
 from tango.server import command, attribute, device_property
 from tango.test_utils import DeviceTestContext, assert_close, \
@@ -392,3 +392,19 @@ def test_get_enum_labels_success(good_enum):
 def test_get_enum_labels_fail(bad_enum):
     with pytest.raises(EnumTypeError):
         get_enum_labels(bad_enum)
+
+
+# DevEncoded
+
+def test_read_write_dev_encoded(server_green_mode):
+
+    class TestDevice(Device):
+        green_mode = server_green_mode
+
+        @attribute(dtype=DevEncoded,
+                   access=AttrWriteType.READ)
+        def attr(self):
+            return ("uint8", b"\xd2\xd3")
+
+    with DeviceTestContext(TestDevice) as proxy:
+        assert proxy.attr == ("uint8", b"\xd2\xd3")