updating zarr safe creation to use contains_group native function

Author: camilolaiton

src/aind_smartspim_data_transformation/compress/png_to_zarr.py

@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@
 from ome_zarr.writer import write_multiscales_metadata
 from skimage.io import imread as sk_imread
 from zarr.errors import ContainsGroupError
+from zarr.storage import contains_group
 
 from aind_smartspim_data_transformation.compress.zarr_writer import (
     BlockedArrayWriter,
@@ -505,22 +506,28 @@ def safe_create_zarr_group(store, path: str = "", **kwargs) -> zarr.Group:
 
     Parameters
     ----------
-    store
-        Zarr store
-    path: str
-        Path to the creation of the zarr group
-        Default: ''
+    store : MutableMapping or string
+        Zarr store (e.g., directory, zip file, etc.)
+    path : str
+        Path to the group inside the store (default: root group)
 
     Returns
     -------
-    Zarr.group
-        Zarr group pointing to where the data is written
+    zarr.Group
+        The Zarr group object
     """
-    try:
-        return zarr.group(store=store, path=path, overwrite=False, **kwargs)
-    except ContainsGroupError:
-        # Group already exists, which is expected with multiple workers
+    if contains_group(store, path=path):
+        # Group already exists; open in read/write mode
         return zarr.open_group(store=store, path=path, mode="r+")
+    else:
+        # Attempt to create;
+        # catch race condition where another worker just created it
+        try:
+            return zarr.group(
+                store=store, path=path, overwrite=False, **kwargs
+            )
+        except ContainsGroupError:
+            return zarr.open_group(store=store, path=path, mode="r+")
 
 
 def smartspim_channel_zarr_writer(