Can you simulate a GPIO input on STM32F0?

Question

I'm trying a variety of things out with input pins and customized timers on the STM32F0. All timer functions are alternate functions on the pins and therefore you cannot use the user button (PC13 on the NUCLEO) as it doesn't have any timer in its alternate functions.

So, the question is: Can you (in the software) "simulate" a GPIO pin input going high? This would make writing code easier as you won't have to hook up the NUCLEO test board, header wires, etc. I was thinking of manually toggling bits in GPIO's IDR register but it's read-only. And the BSRR register only affects outputs. Is there a way to achieve this?

ST should have put the User Button on a different pin with more functions...

Thanks!

• user105652: Welcome to EE.SE. You need to get married to the datasheet for the STM23F0. Just like Arduino and Raspberry Pi you need to understand the MPU core functions and any 'wrapper' programs that are specific to manipulating the GPIO pins. You can fake a pin state in software by using its MPU name. If out of GPIO pins consider a port expander.
• user39382: I'm confused. Why do you think a pin needs a timer AFIO to be used with a button?
• followed Monica to Codidact: @Sparky256 I've considered it, but it can't cook :)
• Niteesh Shanbog: Yes, you can use the PC13 as a GPIO pin. And you can also simulate a pin going high or low in the software by pulling it up or down.
• followed Monica to Codidact: @duskwuff It's the other way round, the pin needs some incoming signal to be used e.g. as a timer trigger. Let's suppose I'd like to have a timer that starts counting on a rising edge on ETR. How do I test it, when the hardware is not yet there?

Answer 1

Use the internal pullup and pulldown resistors.

As long as a pin has nothing connected to it, and it's an input pin, setting the corresponding bits in GPIOx_PUPDR will activate pullup or pulldown resistors, directly affecting the pin state. It will not only simulate the pin going high or low, but the voltage will actually appear on the pin. The current might be too weak to drive anything else, but the pin state would change. It should work even when the pin has an alternate input function, like the external trigger or capture input of a timer.

For example, setting PA12 (TIM1 external trigger) to high

GPIOA->PUPDR=(GPIOA->PUPDR & ~(3 << (2 * 12))) | (1 << 2 * 12);

Setting the same pin to low

GPIOA->PUPDR=(GPIOA->PUPDR & ~(3 << (2 * 12))) | (2 << 2 * 12);

Answer 2

Can you simulate a GPIO input on STM32F0?

That is the wrong problem to solve. The real question is:
Can you simulate a GPIO input?

Yes you can. You can make a different execution environment. For example, run the software on your pc, or create mock objects and peripherals and run on target.

This is part software testing, for example with Test Driven Development.

Practical:
On any embedded platform registers are defined in a header file. For ST, these are structures defined and mapped to peripherals in stm32f0xx.h. You can create a modified header file for your test environment where these structures do not map to peripherals, but to memory. This way you can simulate everything by a test you can write.

• Arsenal: I don't think this is a valid approach to test how the timer peripherals react on changing inputs. You'd have to simulate all the behavior of the peripheral as well, which tends to get ugly pretty quickly.
• Jeroen3: @Arsenal It's not simulating if your testing the hardware. If you want to test the timer inputs, use the pin as output, the alternate function inputs should still work then. Otherwise use the EGR register, change the timer polarity setting, or externally jump the input to another pin.
• Arsenal: I think your comment answers the question better than your answer. At least how I understand the question.
• followed Monica to Codidact: @Jeroen3 use the pin as output, the alternate function inputs should still work then is this documented somewhere?
• Jeroen3: @berendi RM0091 Figure 16. Basic structure of an I/O port bit