STM32CubeMX

Overview

STM32CubeMX is a graphical tool provided by ST Microelectronics, that allows a very easy configuration of STM32 microcontrollers, as well as the generation of the corresponding initialization C code for the Arm® Cortex-M.

This page documents the procedure to create the initialisation code for the NUCLEO-F411RE blinky projects.

For other boards/devices, adjust the steps accordingly.

Note: STM32CubeMX has a very weird implementation, and you may face many small issues with the interface;

Prerequisites

The application requires Java. The more recent CubeMX releases include a Java JRE; if this is not enough, install a recent Java distribution.

Download & install

Register to the STM site and download the latest version.

The result is a file like en.stm32cubemx-*-v6-8-1.zip. Unpack it and follow the instructions.

Note: for macOS, if the user account has no administrative rights (as it should not have!), run the install manually, with sudo:

sudo xattr -cr ~/Downloads/en.stm32cubemx-mac-v6-8-1
sudo open ~/Downloads/en.stm32cubemx-mac-v6-8-1/SetupSTM32CubeMX.app

Install in ~/Applications/STMicroelectronics/STM32CubeMX.app

On macOS, the packages repository is stored at ${HOME}/STM32Cube/Repository

Start

Start the application. The current top window looks like:

Install the F4 package

STM provides separate packages for each family. Install the F7 package.

• in the top page, click the INSTALL/REMOVE button
• scroll to the STM32F4 family
• enable the latest available version
• click the Install Now button
• click the Close button

Create a new project

Before creating a new project, create a new folder in the project, for example stm32f411cubemx.

To create a new project, start by selecting the board:

• click the ACCESS TO BOARD SELECTOR
• in the Commercial Part Number, enter NUCLEO-F411RE
• in the list, select the board
• click the Start Project button

• at the Initialize all peripherals with their default Mode click the No button for a minimal configuration
• in CubeMX, File -> Save Project as -> select the destination (like <project>/platform-nucleo-f411re/stm32f411cubemx), Save
• check if a file called stm32f411cubemx.ioc was created in the destination folder

Configure the project

• in the top window, click the Project Manager tab
• select the Project category
  • check the Project Name: stm32f411cubemx
  • check the Project Location: platform-nucleo-stm32f411re
  • check the Application Structure: Advanced
  • enable Do not generate the main()
  • ignore the Toolchain Folder Location (no idea what it might be)
  • in the Toolchain/IDE combo, select Makefile
  • in the Mcu and Firmware Package area
    • Mcu Reference: STM32F411xE
    • Firmware Package Name and Versio: STM32Cube FW_F4 V1.27.1 (use latest)
    • enable Use Default Firmware Location

• select the Code Generation category
  • select the Copy only the necessary library files
  • in the Generated files group
    • enable Generate peripheral initialization as a pair of .c/.h files per peripheral
    • enable Keep User Code when re-generating
    • enable Delete previously generated files when not re-generated
  • in the HAL Settings group
    • disable Set all free pins as analog
    • enable Enable Full Assert

• select the Advanced Settings
  • enable MX_GPIO_Init, with visibility (static)
  • enable SystemClock_Config
  • disable all register callbacks (on the right)

• in the top window, click the Pinout & Configuration tab
  • expand the System Core category
  • select NVIC
  • in the NVIC tab
    • enable all system interrupts, up to System tick timer
  • in the Code generation tab
    • disable Generate IRQ handler
  • only for Systick: enable Call HAL handler

Generate code

Click the top right GENERATE CODE button.

The result is a file system hierarchy like:

ilg@wks % tree stm32f411cubemx
stm32f411cubemx
├── Core
│   ├── Inc
│   │   ├── gpio.h
│   │   ├── main.h
│   │   ├── stm32f4xx_hal_conf.h
│   │   └── stm32f4xx_it.h
│   └── Src
│       ├── gpio.c
│       ├── main.c
│       ├── stm32f4xx_hal_msp.c
│       ├── stm32f4xx_it.c
│       └── system_stm32f4xx.c
├── Drivers
│   ├── CMSIS
│   │   ├── Device
│   │   │   └── ST
│   │   │       └── STM32F4xx
│   │   │           ├── Include
│   │   │           │   ├── stm32f411xe.h
│   │   │           │   ├── stm32f4xx.h
│   │   │           │   └── system_stm32f4xx.h
│   │   │           ├── LICENSE.txt
│   │   │           └── Source
│   │   │               └── Templates
│   │   ├── Include
│   │   │   ├── cmsis_armcc.h
│   │   │   ├── cmsis_armclang.h
│   │   │   ├── cmsis_compiler.h
│   │   │   ├── cmsis_gcc.h
│   │   │   ├── cmsis_iccarm.h
│   │   │   ├── cmsis_version.h
│   │   │   ├── core_armv8mbl.h
│   │   │   ├── core_armv8mml.h
│   │   │   ├── core_cm0.h
│   │   │   ├── core_cm0plus.h
│   │   │   ├── core_cm1.h
│   │   │   ├── core_cm23.h
│   │   │   ├── core_cm3.h
│   │   │   ├── core_cm33.h
│   │   │   ├── core_cm4.h
│   │   │   ├── core_cm7.h
│   │   │   ├── core_sc000.h
│   │   │   ├── core_sc300.h
│   │   │   ├── mpu_armv7.h
│   │   │   ├── mpu_armv8.h
│   │   │   └── tz_context.h
│   │   └── LICENSE.txt
│   └── STM32F4xx_HAL_Driver
│       ├── Inc
│       │   ├── Legacy
│       │   │   └── stm32_hal_legacy.h
│       │   ├── stm32f4xx_hal.h
│       │   ├── stm32f4xx_hal_cortex.h
│       │   ├── stm32f4xx_hal_def.h
│       │   ├── stm32f4xx_hal_dma.h
│       │   ├── stm32f4xx_hal_dma_ex.h
│       │   ├── stm32f4xx_hal_exti.h
│       │   ├── stm32f4xx_hal_flash.h
│       │   ├── stm32f4xx_hal_flash_ex.h
│       │   ├── stm32f4xx_hal_flash_ramfunc.h
│       │   ├── stm32f4xx_hal_gpio.h
│       │   ├── stm32f4xx_hal_gpio_ex.h
│       │   ├── stm32f4xx_hal_pwr.h
│       │   ├── stm32f4xx_hal_pwr_ex.h
│       │   ├── stm32f4xx_hal_rcc.h
│       │   ├── stm32f4xx_hal_rcc_ex.h
│       │   ├── stm32f4xx_hal_tim.h
│       │   ├── stm32f4xx_hal_tim_ex.h
│       │   ├── stm32f4xx_ll_bus.h
│       │   ├── stm32f4xx_ll_cortex.h
│       │   ├── stm32f4xx_ll_dma.h
│       │   ├── stm32f4xx_ll_exti.h
│       │   ├── stm32f4xx_ll_gpio.h
│       │   ├── stm32f4xx_ll_pwr.h
│       │   ├── stm32f4xx_ll_rcc.h
│       │   ├── stm32f4xx_ll_system.h
│       │   └── stm32f4xx_ll_utils.h
│       ├── LICENSE.txt
│       └── Src
│           ├── stm32f4xx_hal.c
│           ├── stm32f4xx_hal_cortex.c
│           ├── stm32f4xx_hal_dma.c
│           ├── stm32f4xx_hal_dma_ex.c
│           ├── stm32f4xx_hal_exti.c
│           ├── stm32f4xx_hal_flash.c
│           ├── stm32f4xx_hal_flash_ex.c
│           ├── stm32f4xx_hal_flash_ramfunc.c
│           ├── stm32f4xx_hal_gpio.c
│           ├── stm32f4xx_hal_pwr.c
│           ├── stm32f4xx_hal_pwr_ex.c
│           ├── stm32f4xx_hal_rcc.c
│           ├── stm32f4xx_hal_rcc_ex.c
│           ├── stm32f4xx_hal_tim.c
│           └── stm32f4xx_hal_tim_ex.c
├── Makefile
├── STM32F411RETx_FLASH.ld
├── startup_stm32f411xe.s
└── stm32f411cubemx.ioc

16 directories, 83 files

Source folders

Add the following source folders to the build:

• stm32f411cubemx/Core/Src
• stm32f411cubemx/Drivers/STM32F7xx_HAL_Driver/Src

Include folders

Add the following include folders to the build:

• stm32f411cubemx/Core/Inc
• stm32f411cubemx/Drivers/CMSIS/Device/ST/STM32F4xx/Include
• stm32f411cubemx/Drivers/CMSIS/Include
• stm32f411cubemx/Drivers/STM32F4xx_HAL_Driver/Inc

Customisations

Although not critical, for a better error reporting, some small changes can be performed to the stm32f411cubemx/Core/Src/main.c file.

Being braced by the special comments, these changes survive regenerations with CubeMX.

Include trace header

/* USER CODE BEGIN Includes */

#if defined(OS_INCLUDE_MICRO_OS_PLUS_DIAG_TRACE)
#include <micro-os-plus/diag/trace.h>
#endif

/* USER CODE END Includes */

Implement Error_Handler()

  /* USER CODE BEGIN Error_Handler_Debug */
  /* User can add his own implementation to report the HAL error return state */

#if defined(OS_INCLUDE_MICRO_OS_PLUS_DIAG_TRACE)
  trace_printf("Error_Handler()\r\n");
#endif

  __disable_irq();
  while (1)
  {
  }
  /* USER CODE END Error_Handler_Debug */

Implement assert_failed()

  /* USER CODE BEGIN 6 */
  /* User can add his own implementation to report the file name and line number,
     ex: printf("Wrong parameters value: file %s on line %d\r\n", file, line) */

#if defined(OS_INCLUDE_MICRO_OS_PLUS_DIAG_TRACE)
  trace_printf("Wrong parameters value: file %s on line %d\r\n", file, line);
#endif

    while(1) {}

  /* USER CODE END 6 */

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