Going Through A Starter Project

0. Create New Project

File -> New -> STM32 Project

Identify the MCU version that you are using. For this entire tutorial, we will be using STM32F446RET6 unless otherwise noticed.

Identifying the MCU version

Search for "STM32F446RET6" and select the first result. Then click Next.

Name the project, select a suitable location, and then keep the following settings. Then click Finish.

1. Configure STM32

STM32CubeIDE will open the .ioc graphical configuration utility first.

In the left sidebar, select System Core -> SYS.

Select Debug to use Serial Wire

Select Connectivity -> USART2.

Set Mode to be Asynchronous.

In the Clock Configuration tab, set HCLK to 160 MHz and click Enter, the IDE will automatically derive the required PLL parameters.

Press Ctrl+S. STM32CubeIDE will start to generate the codes.

2. Code with Minimal Setup

In main.h and main.c, add the following code

Code

main.h

/* Private includes ----------------------------------------------------------*/
/* USER CODE BEGIN Includes */
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
/* USER CODE END Includes */

main.c

  /* Initialize all configured peripherals */
  MX_GPIO_Init();
  MX_USART2_UART_Init();
  /* USER CODE BEGIN 2 */
  uint32_t counter = 0;
  
  /* USER CODE END 2 */

  /* Infinite loop */
  /* USER CODE BEGIN WHILE */
  while (1)
  {
    char str[64];

    sprintf(str, "hello world %lu\r\n", counter);

    HAL_UART_Transmit(&huart2, (uint8_t *)str, strlen(str), 1000);

    counter += 1;
    /* USER CODE END WHILE */

    /* USER CODE BEGIN 3 */
  }
  /* USER CODE END 3 */
}

Screenshot

3. Upload

Click the green "run ..." button

If there's a popup menu, click "OK".

4. Result

We should be able to see hello world with an upward counter printing from any serial monitor.

Recommend using the VSCode Serial Monitor extension from Microsoft.

5. Code with Cleaner Hierarchy

Although our code is running now, putting everything into main.c and main.h isn't really a good idea ---- these files are autogenerated by STM32CubeIDE, and we would risk breaking it when putting and editing our code between those autogenerated lines.

Thus, a better way of managing the code would be to separate the system-managed code from our user code. Now we would create two new source files, app.h and app.c, and move our existing code there.

In the Project Explorer, right click the "Src" folder, select "New -> Source File".

Name the file "app.c" and click "Finish".

Similarly, in the Project Explorer, right click the "Inc" folder, select "New -> Header File".

Name the file "app.h" and click "Finish".

Then, we can move all the previous user codes into these newly created files.

Code

app.h

/*
 * app.h
 *
 *  Created on: Dec 30, 2022
 *      Author: TK
 */

#ifndef INC_APP_H_
#define INC_APP_H_

#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>

#include "stm32g4xx_hal.h"


void APP_init();

void APP_main();

#endif /* INC_APP_H_ */

app.c

/*
 * app.c
 *
 *  Created on: Dec 30, 2022
 *      Author: TK
 */

#include "app.h"

uint32_t counter = 0;

void APP_init() {

}

void APP_main() {
  char str[64];

  sprintf(str, "hello world %lu\r\n", counter);

  HAL_UART_Transmit(&huart2, (uint8_t *)str, strlen(str), 1000);

  counter += 1;
}

Screenshot

Finally, we need to invoke the user application functions in main.c

Code

main.h

/* Private includes ----------------------------------------------------------*/
/* USER CODE BEGIN Includes */
#include "app.h"
/* USER CODE END Includes */

main.c

  /* Initialize all configured peripherals */
  MX_GPIO_Init();
  MX_USART2_UART_Init();
  /* USER CODE BEGIN 2 */
  APP_init();
  /* USER CODE END 2 */

  /* Infinite loop */
  /* USER CODE BEGIN WHILE */
  while (1)
  {
    APP_main();
    /* USER CODE END WHILE */

    /* USER CODE BEGIN 3 */
  }
  /* USER CODE END 3 */
}

Screenshot