Right now, I am in process of learning STM32 and have some struggles with C (I am beginner level - Knowing some basics). I was trying for about 2 days to figure out how to communicate with UART and somehow with thousands forum questions and answers I made it. The problem is I do not understand some parts of code: specifically what "(uint8_t*)&x" and "&x" means. Have some idea, but I am 0% sure. Below is STM32 UART part of code (without UART Init):
while (1)
{
/* USER CODE END WHILE */
if (__HAL_UART_GET_FLAG(&huart1, UART_FLAG_RXNE) == SET) {
HAL_UART_Receive (&huart1,&x,1, HAL_MAX_DELAY);
x++;
for (i=0; i<x; i++){
HAL_GPIO_WritePin(GPIOA, GPIO_PIN_1, GPIO_PIN_SET);
HAL_Delay(100);
HAL_GPIO_WritePin(GPIOA, GPIO_PIN_1, GPIO_PIN_RESET);
HAL_Delay(100);
}
HAL_Delay(1000);
HAL_UART_Transmit(&huart1,(uint8_t*)&x,1,HAL_MAX_DELAY);
}
/* USER CODE BEGIN 3 */
}
/* USER CODE END 3 */
I saw somewhere someone mention pointers. As I said I am not experienced with C enough, so It would be nice If someone can recommend me where I could look to understand it more. Thank you!
Since I saw a lot of people are searching for this way of two-way communication I will put both STM32 and ESP32 codes in "What did you try and what were you expecting?" session so somebody can use it in there projects.
STM32 code:
/* USER CODE BEGIN Header */
/**
******************************************************************************
* @file : main.c
* @brief : Main program body
******************************************************************************
* @attention
*
* Copyright (c) 2022 STMicroelectronics.
* All rights reserved.
*
* This software is licensed under terms that can be found in the LICENSE file
* in the root directory of this software component.
* If no LICENSE file comes with this software, it is provided AS-IS.
*
******************************************************************************
*/
/* USER CODE END Header */
/* Includes ------------------------------------------------------------------*/
#include "main.h"
/* Private includes ----------------------------------------------------------*/
/* USER CODE BEGIN Includes */
/* USER CODE END Includes */
/* Private typedef -----------------------------------------------------------*/
/* USER CODE BEGIN PTD */
/* USER CODE END PTD */
/* Private define ------------------------------------------------------------*/
/* USER CODE BEGIN PD */
/* USER CODE END PD */
/* Private macro -------------------------------------------------------------*/
/* USER CODE BEGIN PM */
/* USER CODE END PM */
/* Private variables ---------------------------------------------------------*/
UART_HandleTypeDef huart1;
/* USER CODE BEGIN PV */
/* USER CODE END PV */
/* Private function prototypes -----------------------------------------------*/
void SystemClock_Config(void);
static void MX_GPIO_Init(void);
static void MX_USART1_UART_Init(void);
/* USER CODE BEGIN PFP */
/* USER CODE END PFP */
/* Private user code ---------------------------------------------------------*/
/* USER CODE BEGIN 0 */
/* USER CODE END 0 */
/**
* @brief The application entry point.
* @retval int
*/
int main(void)
{
/* USER CODE BEGIN 1 */
/* USER CODE END 1 */
/* MCU Configuration--------------------------------------------------------*/
/* Reset of all peripherals, Initializes the Flash interface and the Systick. */
HAL_Init();
/* USER CODE BEGIN Init */
int i;
char x = 0;
//char y = 5;
/* USER CODE END Init */
/* Configure the system clock */
SystemClock_Config();
/* USER CODE BEGIN SysInit */
/* USER CODE END SysInit */
/* Initialize all configured peripherals */
MX_GPIO_Init();
MX_USART1_UART_Init();
/* USER CODE BEGIN 2 */
for(i=0;i<5;i++){
HAL_GPIO_WritePin(GPIOA, GPIO_PIN_1, GPIO_PIN_SET);
HAL_Delay(300);
HAL_GPIO_WritePin(GPIOA, GPIO_PIN_1, GPIO_PIN_RESET);
HAL_Delay(300);
}
HAL_Delay(3000);
/* USER CODE END 2 */
/* Infinite loop */
/* USER CODE BEGIN WHILE */
while (1)
{
/* USER CODE END WHILE */
if (__HAL_UART_GET_FLAG(&huart1, UART_FLAG_RXNE) == SET) {
HAL_UART_Receive (&huart1,&x,1, HAL_MAX_DELAY);
x++;
for (i=0; i<x; i++){
HAL_GPIO_WritePin(GPIOA, GPIO_PIN_1, GPIO_PIN_SET);
HAL_Delay(100);
HAL_GPIO_WritePin(GPIOA, GPIO_PIN_1, GPIO_PIN_RESET);
HAL_Delay(100);
}
HAL_Delay(1000);
HAL_UART_Transmit(&huart1,(uint8_t*)&x,1,HAL_MAX_DELAY);
}
/* USER CODE BEGIN 3 */
}
/* USER CODE END 3 */
}
/**
* @brief System Clock Configuration
* @retval None
*/
void SystemClock_Config(void)
{
RCC_OscInitTypeDef RCC_OscInitStruct = {0};
RCC_ClkInitTypeDef RCC_ClkInitStruct = {0};
/** Initializes the RCC Oscillators according to the specified parameters
* in the RCC_OscInitTypeDef structure.
*/
RCC_OscInitStruct.OscillatorType = RCC_OSCILLATORTYPE_HSI;
RCC_OscInitStruct.HSIState = RCC_HSI_ON;
RCC_OscInitStruct.HSICalibrationValue = RCC_HSICALIBRATION_DEFAULT;
RCC_OscInitStruct.PLL.PLLState = RCC_PLL_ON;
RCC_OscInitStruct.PLL.PLLSource = RCC_PLLSOURCE_HSI_DIV2;
RCC_OscInitStruct.PLL.PLLMUL = RCC_PLL_MUL4;
if (HAL_RCC_OscConfig(&RCC_OscInitStruct) != HAL_OK)
{
Error_Handler();
}
/** Initializes the CPU, AHB and APB buses clocks
*/
RCC_ClkInitStruct.ClockType = RCC_CLOCKTYPE_HCLK|RCC_CLOCKTYPE_SYSCLK
|RCC_CLOCKTYPE_PCLK1|RCC_CLOCKTYPE_PCLK2;
RCC_ClkInitStruct.SYSCLKSource = RCC_SYSCLKSOURCE_PLLCLK;
RCC_ClkInitStruct.AHBCLKDivider = RCC_SYSCLK_DIV1;
RCC_ClkInitStruct.APB1CLKDivider = RCC_HCLK_DIV1;
RCC_ClkInitStruct.APB2CLKDivider = RCC_HCLK_DIV1;
if (HAL_RCC_ClockConfig(&RCC_ClkInitStruct, FLASH_LATENCY_0) != HAL_OK)
{
Error_Handler();
}
}
/**
* @brief USART1 Initialization Function
* @param None
* @retval None
*/
static void MX_USART1_UART_Init(void)
{
/* USER CODE BEGIN USART1_Init 0 */
/* USER CODE END USART1_Init 0 */
/* USER CODE BEGIN USART1_Init 1 */
/* USER CODE END USART1_Init 1 */
huart1.Instance = USART1;
huart1.Init.BaudRate = 9600;
huart1.Init.WordLength = UART_WORDLENGTH_8B;
huart1.Init.StopBits = UART_STOPBITS_1;
huart1.Init.Parity = UART_PARITY_NONE;
huart1.Init.Mode = UART_MODE_TX_RX;
huart1.Init.HwFlowCtl = UART_HWCONTROL_NONE;
huart1.Init.OverSampling = UART_OVERSAMPLING_16;
if (HAL_UART_Init(&huart1) != HAL_OK)
{
Error_Handler();
}
/* USER CODE BEGIN USART1_Init 2 */
/* USER CODE END USART1_Init 2 */
}
/**
* @brief GPIO Initialization Function
* @param None
* @retval None
*/
static void MX_GPIO_Init(void)
{
GPIO_InitTypeDef GPIO_InitStruct = {0};
/* GPIO Ports Clock Enable */
__HAL_RCC_GPIOA_CLK_ENABLE();
/*Configure GPIO pin Output Level */
HAL_GPIO_WritePin(GPIOA, GPIO_PIN_1, GPIO_PIN_RESET);
/*Configure GPIO pin : PA1 */
GPIO_InitStruct.Pin = GPIO_PIN_1;
GPIO_InitStruct.Mode = GPIO_MODE_OUTPUT_PP;
GPIO_InitStruct.Pull = GPIO_NOPULL;
GPIO_InitStruct.Speed = GPIO_SPEED_FREQ_LOW;
HAL_GPIO_Init(GPIOA, &GPIO_InitStruct);
}
/* USER CODE BEGIN 4 */
/* USER CODE END 4 */
/**
* @brief This function is executed in case of error occurrence.
* @retval None
*/
void Error_Handler(void)
{
/* USER CODE BEGIN Error_Handler_Debug */
/* User can add his own implementation to report the HAL error return state */
__disable_irq();
while (1)
{
}
/* USER CODE END Error_Handler_Debug */
}
#ifdef USE_FULL_ASSERT
/**
* @brief Reports the name of the source file and the source line number
* where the assert_param error has occurred.
* @param file: pointer to the source file name
* @param line: assert_param error line source number
* @retval None
*/
void assert_failed(uint8_t *file, uint32_t line)
{
/* 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) */
/* USER CODE END 6 */
}
#endif /* USE_FULL_ASSERT */
ESP32 code (MicroPython):
from machine import UART
from time import sleep
x = b'\x01'
uart1 = UART(1, baudrate=9600, tx=19, rx=18)
while 1:
uart1.write(x)
while uart1.any()==0:
pass
x = uart1.read(1)
print(x)
print(int.from_bytes(x, "big"))
sleep(0.5)
“&x” is taking the address of “x”. It is the equivalent of making a pointer to “x”.
Once you have that pointer to “x” it is a pointer to x’s type. In this code that type is char. Presumably your function HAL_UART_Transmit is looking for a pointer to a variable of type uint8_t, so your code uses “(uint8_t*)&x” to cast the pointer to type char to a pointer of type uint8_t.