cd00291687

RN0058
Release note
STM-STUDIO-STM32 and STM-STUDIO-STM8 release 3.5.1
Introduction
This is the STM-STUDIO-STM32 and STM-STUDIO-STM8 release 3.5.1 release note,
which is updated periodically in order to keep the reader abreast of the evolutions of the
software and any problems or limitations found in this release. Check the ST microcontroller
support website at www.st.com to ensure that this is the latest version of this release note.
The RPNs STM-STUDIO-STM32 and STM-STUDIO-STM8 replace the previous STMSTUDIO RPN.
Customer support
For more information or help concerning STM-STUDIO-STM32 and STM-STUDIO-STM8,
contact the nearest sales office. For a complete list of ST offices and distributors, refer to the
www.st.com website.
Software updates
The software updates and all the latest documentation can be downloaded from the ST
microcontroller support site at the www.st.com website.
April 2016
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Contents
RN0058
Contents
1
Read me first . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.1
Host PC system requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.2
Supported hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.3
Used software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2
What's new in STM-STUDIO release 3.5.1? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3
Known problems/limitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
3.1
Known problems/limitations for data acquisition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
3.2
Known problems/limitations for graphical interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
4
Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
5
Information for major previous releases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
6
2/15
5.1
Summary of changes in release 3.5.1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
5.2
Summary of changes in release 3.4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
5.3
Summary of changes in release 3.3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
5.4
Summary of changes in release 3.2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
5.5
Summary of changes in release 3.1.1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
5.6
Summary of changes in release 3.1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
5.7
Summary of changes in release 3.0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11
5.8
Summary of changes in release 2.2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
5.9
Summary of changes in release 2.1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
5.10
Summary of changes in release 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
5.11
Summary of changes in release 1.3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
5.12
Summary of changes in release 1.2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Revision history . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
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1
Read me first
Read me first
This section provides important information about STM-STUDIO-STM32 and STMSTUDIO-STM8 release 3.5.1.
1.1
Host PC system requirements
PC and compatibles running with:

Windows® XP or Windows® 7 or Windows® 8 32-bit operating systems

Windows® 7 or Windows® 8 or Windows® 10 64-bit operating systems
A Java™ Runtime Environment version 1.7 or newer must be installed. On 64-bit operating
systems, the Java™ 32-bit version has to be preferred as long as only ST-LINK targets are
supported on the 64-bit version of Java™ (RLink Swim, Stice Swim and ST-TSLink are
managed only in 32-bit mode).
Administrator privileges are required to install STM-STUDIO-STM32 and STM-STUDIOSTM8 and to connect with ST-LINK.
1.2
Supported hardware
This version allows communication with:
1.3

STM32 microcontrollers in JTAG or SWD through ST-LINK, ST-LINK/V2 or
ST-LINK/V2-1.

STM8 microcontrollers in SWIM through ST-LINK, Raisonance RLink and STice-SWIM
(For use with Raisonance RLink, RLink drivers must have been installed previously).
Raisonance RLink and STice-SWIM are managed only on 32-bit versions of Java™.

ST-TSLink for STM8T microcontrollers (only on 32-bit versions of Java™).
Used software
SoftTrace and synchrAcq examples have been built with:

IAR™ EWARM-6.50
Keil® MDK-ARM 4.60

IAR™ EWSTM8-1.30

Cosmic STM8 v4.3.4

Raisonance Ride7 STM8 v2.40

SoftTrace project examples are provided for STM32F10x, STM32F30x, STM32F40x and
STM8L15x microcontrollers but can be easily ported to any other STM8 or STM32
microcontroller.
SynchrAcq project example is provided for STM8S105 microcontroller but can be easily
ported to any other microcontroller.
STM-STUDIO-STM32 and STM-STUDIO-STM8 install and might use ST-LinkUpgrade.exe
v2.3.26 to update the ST-LINK firmware to the most recent version.
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What is new in STM-STUDIO-STM32 and STM-STUDIO-STM8 release 3.5.1?
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What is new in STM-STUDIO-STM32 and STMSTUDIO-STM8 release 3.5.1?
Corrections

4/15
Fixed a regression appeared in release 3.5: wrong endianess in the default
configuration (ST-LINK SWD, big endian). In release 3.5.1 the default configuration is
ST-LINK SWD, little endian.
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Known problems/limitations
3
Known problems/limitations
3.1
Known problems/limitations for data acquisition

In normal acquisition mode (direct access to variables from PC), data acquisition is
limited to 6 frames of 255 bytes. The STM-STUDIO-STM32 and STM-STUDIO-STM8
automatically compute the frame size and start address according to the variable size
and address.

In normal acquisition mode (direct access to variables from PC), there is no intrusion in
the application execution, but time elapses between the first and the last variable
acquisitions. As a result, the STM-STUDIO-STM32 and STM-STUDIO-STM8 may give
an inconsistent image of the group of variables. The snapshot acquisition mode fixes
this limitation, but requires application instrumentation (additional code, RAM buffer,
impact on execution timings).

Bit-field variables are not managed.

In SWIM mode, if the option “Init comm on each start” is selected, the application
restarts (with SWIM disabled on target) on the “Stop recording session” event. If the
option “Init comm on each start” is disabled, the application keeps running with SWIM
active after the “Stop recording session” event.

The target resources required by the snapshot acquisition and trigger may be
excessive for the smaller microcontrollers. Depending on the compilation environment,
the snapshot acquisition requires approximately 800 bytes for program and 200 bytes
for data (trace buffer not included), and the trigger requires up to 1.5 Kbytes for
program and 50 bytes for data.

In snapshot mode, the timestamp is now computed according to the timebase, and
synchronized with the host time. As a result, the first snapshot record is not necessarily
corresponding to t=0ms (vertical axis).

If the timebase specified in the application does not correspond to the real time, a
phase offset progressively appears between direct records and snapshot records.

In snapshot mode with trigger activated, if options "stop when buffer full" and "ignore
trigger when buffer not empty" are selected, the buffer is considered full when
containing (N-1) records, where N is the buffer size in number of records.

Trigger conditions are evaluated by software, at a frequency rate depending on
acquisition parameters. For instance in direct mode, the time between two consecutive
records cannot be smaller than several milliseconds. As a consequence, in order to
work properly, trigger must be set on a variable that is changing more slowly than the
acquisition rate.

The sampling rate for direct acquisition is limited by the system timer accuracy and the
global system performance. Typically, values less than 20 ms are not realistic; for a
maximum acquisition accuracy in this mode, select the "Maximum (sequential loop)"
item.
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Known problems/limitations
3.2
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Known problems/limitations for graphical interface

When replaying from a file, the current user configuration settings must fit with those
used during the file acquisition.

The “append mode for log to file” function should be disabled when:
–
"replay from file" will be used later, or
–
there are expressions or statistical variables in the configuration.

It is not possible to compute statistics on an expression (conversely it is possible to use
a statistical variable in an expression).

It is not possible to use any expression variable in another expression, excepted
constant expressions.

A "zoom out" in a curve varviewer containing a variable that had an "Infinite" value in its
history (for instance, the result of a divide by 0 done in an expression variable), freezes
the graphical interface.

When running an acquisition session with the "under-sample data for graphical display"
option, the graphical display after stopping is affected by the log file post-processing, if
any (option selected + expressions or statistical variables present): all points get
displayed.

When defining a trigger condition through an application symbol, the trigger is not
automatically affected by potential changes in the symbol (name, address, type), as
long as the "acquisition settings" dialog is not opened. After executable file changes, it
is recommended to open the "acquisition settings" dialog in order to have the trigger
updated.

Changes in application variables (name, address, type) are not taken into account by
the "write variables" table.

Bit-fields and multi-dimensional tables are not automatically imported from executable.
However, they might be defined manually.

When the "apply trigger to all variables" option is selected, a big difference in
acquisition rates between the snapshot mode and the direct mode may result in a
surprising display. For instance, no record in direct mode, in case the snapshot mode
has triggered then stopped quickly; or all records in snapshot mode aggregated into a
single point because of not adjusted horizontal scale. These behaviors are a
consequence of asynchronous acquisition modes, and may be limited by zooming,
modifying the acquisition rates, or disabling the trigger synchronization when rates are
too much different.
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4
Troubleshooting
Troubleshooting


When starting an acquisition session, no record is displayed
–
Check the trigger condition (address, type, threshold) and also ensure that it is set
on a variable stable enough for the tool to detect the transition (variable not
moving too fast as compared with the acquisition rate).
–
In case of a curve varviewer, check that no data is outside the vertical axis range;
select the table mode in order to see if the values are really acquired.
–
Ensure the target application is running; start an acquisition session in direct mode
without trigger.
–
In case of a snapshot acquisition mode, ensure that the "DumpTrace" function is
really called by the application. Especially, when using the "softTrace" example on
STM8 target, ensure that the preprocessor switch "STM8L_FAMILY" or
"STM8S_FAMILY" is correctly defined in stm8/common/mcuregs.h.
Dropping a display variable into the write variables table is impossible
–

The display variable is neither an application variable nor a linear expression
based on a single application variable.
Selecting the "Auto restart trigger" option is impossible
–
Check that the pre-trigger is set to 0.
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Information for major previous releases
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5
Information for major previous releases
5.1
Summary of changes in release 3.5
Enhancements:

Allow execution from Java 64-bit platforms with ST-LINK boards

Added support for ST-LINK/V2-1 boards (Nucleo boards and recent STM32 discovery
and evaluation boards)

Added support for Windows 10 64-bit operating system
Corrections

Desktop shortcut functional on recent versions of Java™ Runtime Environment

Updated ST-LINK driver installation and ST-LinkUpgrade.exe to most recent versions
Default target changed to ST-LINK SWD
5.2
Summary of changes in release 3.4
Corrections

5.3
Variables extraction possible from elf files made by ARM GNU EABI compiler/linker.
Summary of changes in release 3.3
New features

Management of Java plug-in for user-defined variables. An example is provided with
signal/noise ratio (SNR) computing.

Management of floats (IEEE 754 format, 32 bits) on STM8 and STM32.

Management of doubles (IEEE 754 format, 64 bits) on STM32 only (not on STM8).

Possibility to synchronize a trigger event to both acquisition modes (snapshot and
direct).
Enhancements

Automatic stop of the acquisition loop after reaching a trigger end condition (stop when
buffer full, stop after N records).
Corrections
8/15

Missing contextual menu in writeTable.

Take into account the type of expressions. When opening configuration files made out
of a previous STM-STUDIO-STM32 and STM-STUDIO-STM8 version, the type of
expressions is automatically changed to "double" (which is the way it was processed
before, when the type of expressions was ignored).

Bad computing of the first pre-trig record in snapshot mode (in some cases).

Clear the expression and statistic variables history when "restart timestamp from 0"
trigger option is selected.
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5.4
Information for major previous releases
Summary of changes in release 3.2
New features

User configurable sampling rate for direct acquisition

Added a third acquisition mode (synchronized with target), using less target resources
(RAM and Flash), but being more runtime intrusive than the snapshot mode

Added a third variable selection mode (acquire only variables used by visible viewers)

Allow viewers repositioning (drag and drop), resizing, moving into a second frame
Enhancements

Added vertical scrollbar for easier navigation in curve viewers

Activated pan mode (control+click) for easier navigation in curve viewers

Automatic update of snapshot trace header address if found in the executable

Allow swapping columns in variable tables and in table varviewer

Allow multiple selection in varviewer list of variables

Allow to save the path to the executable relatively to the user settings file
Corrections
5.5

Project examples are now deployed into "My Documents\STMicroelectronics\
STMStudio" instead of "Program Files\STMicroelectronics\STMStudio"

Enable Y-axis tick labels on curve varviewers when scaling under 1 unit
Summary of changes in release 3.1.1
Enhancements

Improved performance when opening and closing a user configuration containing
several tens of expression variables
Corrections

Fixed issues in mode "only used variables in acquisition" that might result, at worst, in
not acquiring all variables required for a displayed expression

Fixed issue in row indexes when working on sorted variable tables; especially when
opening the expression editor assistant, or when deleting a variable
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Summary of changes in release 3.1
New features

Added the possibility to mix the acquisition modes (snapshot and direct) in a same
acquisition session. For correct synchronization, a timebase must be defined in the
snapshot instrumentation code (dataAcq.c)

Added the possibility to write to application variables, or to linear expressions of
application variables, directly from the table varviewer (additionally to the write variable
table, which allows to write to variables that are not in acquisition)

Allow reuse of constant expressions in other expressions

Added accelerators for direct import of scaled variables (ax+b) from "Import" dialog
instead of variable import + expression editing

Display Y values on curve graph sliders

Require Java Runtime Environment version 7 (instead of version 6 previously)
Enhancements
10/15

Allow long acquisition sessions without performance issues or crash. Graphical history
reduced to 20,000 points per variable (instead of 30,000 previously) and allocated
memory set to 512 MB

Added status bar during log file post-processing for expression and statistical variables.
Moreover, this processing is now optional and can be cancelled

Maximum number of frames in direct mode extended to 6, instead of 3 previously (255
bytes each)

Use project path as default import path for a configuration when a project is opened

Automatically start the expression editor when adding a new expression

Automatically compute the target endianess

Automatically update variables when closing the "Import" dialog in case of executable
file change

Most Recently Used list of configurations extended from 5 to 10 items

Changed icons in variable configuration tables
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Information for major previous releases
Corrections
5.7

Log file post-processed values were badly computed after having reached the 30,000
points limit in the acquisition session

Allow writing a double value (non integer) in an expression from the write table

Enable Y-axis tick labels on curve varviewers when scaling under 1 unit

Correctly change a varviewer's name when several viewers share the same name

Enhancements in viewers horizontal scrollbar management

Import variables in direct acquisition mode

Set maximum frame size in direct mode to 255 bytes instead of 254 bytes

Display only one error message in case several variables cannot be inserted within the
maximum number of frames in direct mode

In snapshot mode, always record the trigger event, even if in sub-sampling mode
without pre-trigger

Forbid adding a variable that is not acquired, to a running viewer

Update the expression column in the table varviewer after a name change of an
application variable or a statistical variable used by the expression

Expressions such as k/var can no longer be used as trigger symbol nor being written
into

Linear expressions referring to the same application variable in multiple ways (such as
var+var instead of 2*var) can be used as trigger symbol and can be written into
Summary of changes in release 3.0
New features

Triggers in direct acquisition mode

Possibility to record variables acquired in different modes in a single session, that is:
–
variables acquired in direct mode (not intrusive reading from host) and
–
variables acquired in snapshot mode (instrumented application).
Note that it is not possible to display variables acquired in different modes in the same
viewer, different viewers must be used instead (due to the asynchronous acquisition
process).

Acquisition mode selection is made via the icon on the left column of the variables table

Expression edition assistant

Possibility to write to linear expressions (reversed function computed by the host)
through the "write variables" table

New filter field in the "import variables from executable" window that filters the list of
symbols.
Corrections

Fixed issue with triggers in snapshot mode: was not possible to generate a trigger
event on a variable toggling between two consecutive integer values. From now on, the
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equality with the threshold may generate the trigger event, when the previous value
matches the selected edge.
5.8
5.9
12/15

In snapshot acquisition mode, when using sub-sampled acquisition, the trigger
evaluation is no longer sub-sampled (but done on each call to DumpTrace function)

Fixed possible application crash after target communication error during SWIM entry
sequence with ST-LINK (STM8 only)

Fixed issue when replaying a file containing expressions with parentheses.
Summary of changes in release 2.2

Statistical variables (min, max, average, standard deviation)

Expressions & statistical variables logged to file (if log enabled without raw format
option)

Workspace tree view and ability to organize configurations inside a project

Pretrigger in snapshot acquisition mode

Possibility of sub-sampling the acquisition in snapshot mode

Ability to restart timestamp from 0 when in trigger auto-restart mode

Resizable variable tables height

Display in double format in table variable viewer (do not truncate to integer)

Adjust zooming to the point on the right of the zoom selection in order to avoid bad
display in some cases

Modified log file header in snapshot acquisition mode.
Summary of changes in release 2.1

Table variable viewer

Trigger in snapshot acquisition mode

Possibility of exhaustive display of all recorded data in snapshot acquisition mode

Automatic update of variable address and type after .elf modification

Possibility to record only variables that are displayed in a viewer (instead of all
variables from the control list)

Possibility of hexadecimal display on vertical axis

Single horizontal slider for all viewers (synchronized scroll)

Variable name in log file

Support for STM32 ARM (Keil) axf files for symbol import.
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5.10
5.11
5.12
Information for major previous releases
Summary of changes in release 2

Added support for Write on-the-fly variables

Added new data acquisition mode (snapshot mode): intrusive mode, where the
application fills in a trace-dedicated embedded buffer that is read from the PC, instead
of accessing the variables directly

Added Var viewers can be hidden independently from each other

Added sorting of variable tables

Added resizable control panel

Added sliders with two vertical bars for cursors

Added confirmation message displays before overwriting user configuration file

No exception on expression variables after deleting a variable used in an expression

STM32 variables type 'int' or derived imported from elf file as 16 bits instead of 32 bits

In bargraph mode, positive values are displayed above the bar.
Summary of changes in release 1.3

Added support for IAR elf file parsing (STM8 and STM32)

Added support for ST-TSLink (for STM8T142 microcontroller)

Added option for elf variables table expansion

Acquisition settings dialog enhancements:
–
manage STM8 low power modes
–
manage communication errors
–
added cancel/close buttons
–
bugfix dirty flag after modification of the refresh rate
Summary of changes in release 1.2
First official version. Contains the following features:

Read on-the-fly (non intrusive) variable from RAM while the application is running

Parse DWARF debugging information in the ELF application executable file (Cosmic
STM8 and Raisonance STM8)

2 types of viewer:
–
Variable viewers: Real-time waveforms
–
TouchPoint viewer: Association of 2 variables, one on X axis, one on Y axis

Possibility to log data into file, and replay later (exhaustive record display, not real-time)

Configuration settings management (save, load, Most Recently Used list).
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Revision history
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RN0058
Revision history
Table 1. Document revision history
Date
Revision
22-Nov-2010
1
Initial release.
07-Apr-2011
2
Updated Chapter 2 for STM-STUDIO 1.3.
Removed two limitations in Section 3.2: Known problems/limitations for
elf file parsing on page 5.
21-Apr-2011
3
Updated Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 for STM-STUDIO 2.
01-July-2011
4
Updated Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 for STM-STUDIO 2.1.
15-Dec-2011
5
Changed STM Studio to STM-STUDIO.
Updated Chapter 2 and Chapter 5 for STM-STUDIO 2.2.
29-May-2012
6
Updated all chapters for STM-STUDIO 3.0.
31-Oct-2012
7
Updated the title and most chapters for STM-STUDIO 3.1.
Added Chapter 4: Troubleshooting.
10-Dec-2012
8
Updated the title, Chapter 2, Chapter 3.1: Known problems/limitations
for data acquisition, Chapter 4: Troubleshooting and Chapter 5.2:
Summary of changes in release 3.1 for STM-STUDIO 3.1.1.
9
Updated the title, updated Chapter 2: What's new in STM-STUDIO
release 3.2?, added Section 1.3: Used software and updated
Section 3.1: Known problems/limitations for data acquisition for STMSTUDIO 3.2.
10
Updated the title for STM-STUDIO 3.3.
Updated Section 2: What is new in STM-STUDIO-STM32 and STMSTUDIO-STM8 release 3.5.1? and moved its previous contents to
Section 5.4: Summary of changes in release 3.2.
Edited the 3rd bullet of Section 3.1: Known problems/limitations for data
acquisition.
Removed the 5th bullet of Section 3.2: Known problems/limitations for
graphical interface and added the last two bullets.
12-Dec-2014
11
Updated:
– the title for STM-STUDIO 3.4.
– Updated Section 2: What is new in STM-STUDIO-STM32 and STMSTUDIO-STM8 release 3.5.1? and moved its previous contents to
Section 5.3: Summary of changes in release 3.3
17-Feb-2016
12
Added version 3.5 that supports Windows 10.
13-Apr-2016
13
Added version 3.5.1 to fix a regression.
16-Apr-2013
12-Sep-2013
14/15
Changes
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