Uninformative error when machine id isn't registered in BETY

[Aariq]

Bug Description

If the hostname in pecan.xml isn't registered in BETY, then prepare.settings() errors with the following:

Error in postgresqlExecStatement(conn, statement, ...) : 
  RPosgreSQL error: could not Retrieve the result : ERROR:  syntax error at or near ")"
LINE 7: WHERE ("machine_id" = )
                              ^

To Reproduce

Set hostname to something arbitrary, run prepare.settings()

Expected behavior

It should probably just register the hostname with BETY and print a message. If this should be an error, the error should explain next steps to the user

[github-actions[bot]]

This issue is stale because it has been open 365 days with no activity.