What’s new in STM32CubeIDE 2.0.0

I just downloaded the update. I was hoping for a nicer interface and a version where code files wouldn't open automatically during runtime. Instead, I'm faced with a downgrade that makes using MX mandatory again.

Someone tell me this is a joke...

@Turker ,

We (at the STM32World YouTube/Discord/++ channel) have tried to mitigate this as much as we can.

STM32CubeIDE 2.0.0 video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sa_HBrblF0w
CLion for STM32 Development  - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAcD135fnms

ST has also released a video about 2.0.0 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAb4DnOZ9LA

For me was joke long time ago , when i start wth IDE 1.4 and mostly dont understand why is MX plugin inside and full MX outside. ST make this for ..., but this removing step took so long.

Simply go ahead...

I like using STM32CubeIDE and version 2.0.0 does not change it, I prefer STM32CubeIDE to VSC plug-in by far.

I recall STM32CubeMX predates STM32CubeIDE, since I'm an hobbist, a long time ago I was using ac6 OpenSTM32 System Workbench for STM32.

Hmm, big changes, some disruption. A shortlist for those on Mac:

1. Highlighting more than one line fails visually (but functionality remains if you can work blind) on Tahoe 26.1. AFAICT, the link to CubeIDE 2.0.0 is a coincidence, surprisingly. It affects IDEs based on Eclipse 4.30, which includes CubeIDE 1.19 and CubeIDE 2.0.0. It was fixed in 4.38, and backported to 4.31.
   1. The "pinnacle" issue is this one. All others seem to be duplicates and misdiagnoses, and are linked to that.
   2. I had a play around, but couldn't find a way to apply this to CubeIDE. Only older versions of "Eclipse Platform" can be found in "Install New Software...". Braver souls may consider this advice, and dive deeper.
2. The ioc file is not associated with CubeMX! So now it's no longer integrated, double-clicking it in your project will send you astray. I did manage to associate it manually:
   1. Right click it and select "Open With" and then "Other...". Select "External programs". For me CubeMX didn't even appear in the list, by I could navigate to it with the "Browse..." button. The icon is still generic, so it looks like nothing has changed, but it works! See first attachment.
   2. Note if you already have it open, it will open a new instance! Possibly more indication of why this doesn't "just work" out of the box on Mac.
3. Where the CubeMX perspective button used to appear, "<Device Configuration Tool>" now appears. It flickers the window, but otherwise doesn't do anything. I supposed it's vestigial now. You can remove it by right-clicking and selecting "Close". See second attachment.

And a considered response to @mattias norlander generous request for feedback on why VSCode is inferior. This in addition to @Mykola_Levun fine contribution.

First up I totally get the rationale behind decoupling the IDE from the hardware lifecycle. I'm really looking forward to IDE releases that aren't just a bunch of "added support for STM32ABCDEFGH" :)

Second, I'm a heavy user of VSCode. I didn't expect to adopt it so readily, but the quality and speed of development is extraordinary. I find it fast and convenient for a variety of languages - the language server support in things like Closure, Haskell, Gleam and Julia is excellent, and makes those languages shine. It also rapidly became my IDE of choice for Arduino style development, once PlatformIO suddenly became useful. And I even switched to it as the editor for my Zepher/Nordic projects, ahead of Segger abandoning their own IDE. But I still switch back for flashing/debugging.

So I've been watching the STM32Cube plugin, and I routinely have traditional webdev clients that bork at the Eclipse style IDEs, and request I provide them the familiarity of VSCode. I get to bills for hours and hours of CMake file maintenance, so everyone wins.

But for STM32 development, CubeIDE is a far superior experience. Here's why:

• The projects in CubeIDE are STM32 projects. VSCode, depending on which computer I'm on at the time, is littered with irrelevant shortcuts. From recent files/projects in the "File" menu, to plugins for other languages popping up warnings, to the status bar full of Docker and CMake and PIO and Copilot and Git buttons and icons. In CubeIDE, every setting and button and icon is somehow related to working with STM32 projects.
• Easy access to CubeMX. Over many years CubeMX has gone from annoying necessity, to an integral, enormous advantage. The "USER CODE" sections work so well these days, I routinely flip between MX and IDE to see the impact and options of various peripheral configurations. Wanna check the clock speed of the SPI peripheral? Click the MX button. Want to see how a change to circular DMA affects the registers? Click the "generate code" button. It's so good.
• A developer's relationship with the debugger is intimate, formed over years and years of learning the nuances, false signals, capabilities and trustworthiness. VSCode is many things to many people. It is not a debugging environment that anyone has any significant history of experience with. I'm sick of reimplementing the basics for every IDE de jour.
• Configuration is via the GUI. Everything from compiler flags, to the C stdlib selection, and from the programmer tool (eg. JLink/STLink) to build steps, has a checkbox or a text field. Yes, the results are in a text file, and that's critical (eg. for versioning), but adding a debug configuration with a GUI and clicking one of two options is infinitely less error prone than typing out json based on ill-fitting advice on an Internet forum.
• Indexing is automatic. My god have I wasted days in VSCode tweaking "compile_commands.json" so I can follow symbols, or read the wrong parts of the code because the #DEFINE highlighting was wrong. Same with search - CubeIDE already knows what files are in my project, so the scope options are sane.

I've kept it to five dot points because I think there's no point belabouring it - if these don't trigger an enormous response of sympathy, then nothing will. I could expand on each one for hours. I totally get the attraction of VSCode. It's way sexier. But it is a jack of all trades, not a master of one. I don't see this improving much, just becoming the de-facto option, as we've seen happen in this industry for at least a couple of decades.

@mattias norlander 

Let me perhaps present a compromise. Please note that I am a total newbie at programming STM microcontrollers so take it with a grain of salt.

Part of the issue I see is that there is a massive pain point when I want to create an ioc file in CubeMX and import into CubeIDE, which I found just didn't exist in previous versions.

Perhaps it is possible then, to have the same option to create a new project like in version 1 of CubeIDE, but instead of opening CubeMX in a new panel within CubeIDE, it simply opens CubeMX in a new window and automatically starts a new project.

Essentially, the process for creating or editing CubeMX projects within CubeIDE would be the same for the end user, with the exception of CubeMX being a separate window. With this, you make it less confusing for newer users and still get the separate applications you say is needed.

I will revert back to 1.19… why fix it if it”s not broken???