Does HAL_SPI_Transmit() discard received data?

Question

Suppose I have two STM boards with a full duplex SPI connection (one is master, one is slave), and suppose I use HAL_SPI_Transmit() and HAL_SPI_Receive() on each end for the communication.

Suppose further that I want the communication to consist of a series of single-byte command-and-response transactions: master sends command A, slave receives it and then sends response A; master sends command B, slave receives it and then sends response B, and so on.

When the master calls HAL_SPI_Transmit(), the nature of SPI means that while it clocks out the first byte over the MOSI line, it is simultaneously clocking in a byte over the MISO line. The master would then call HAL_SPI_Receive() to furnish clocks for the slave to do the transmitting of its response. My question: What is the result of the master's HAL_SPI_Receive() call? Is it the byte that was simultaneously clocked in during the master's transmit, or is is what the slave transmitted afterwards?

In other words, does the data that is implicitly clocked in during HAL_SPI_Transmit() get "discarded"? I'm thinking it must, because otherwise we should always use the HAL_SPI_TransmitReceive() call and ignore the received part.

(Likewise, when HAL_SPI_Receive() is called, what is clocked OUT, which will be seen on the other end?)

Addendum: Please don't say "Don't use HAL". I'm trying to understand how this works. I can move away from HAL later--for now, I'm a beginner and want to keep it simple. I fully recognize the shortcomings of HAL. Nonetheless, HAL exists and is commonly used.

I've used code above the HAL and I've coded directly to hardware registers, so I'm weirdly unequipped to tell you exactly what it does from experience. What I can tell you is that you can open the HAL SPI code and look right at the documentation comments, if I were to provide an answer, that's the only thing that would be backing it, not any particular experience I have with it. — timemage

Cimory Cimory · Accepted Answer · 2021-06-22T23:02:37

Yes, if you only use HAL_SPI_Transmit() to send data, the received data at the same clocked event gets discarded.

As an alternative, use HAL_SPI_TransmitReceive() to send data and receive data at the same clock events. You would need to provide two arrays, one that contains data that will be sent, and the other array will be populated when bytes are received at the same clock events.

E.g. if your STM32 SPI Slave wishes to send data to a master when the master plans to send 4 clock bytes to it (master sends 0xFF byte to retrieve a byte from slave), using HAL_SPI_TransmitReceive() will let you send the data you wish to send on one array, and receive all the clocked bytes 0xFF on another array.

I never used HAL_SPI_Receive() before on its own, but the microcontroller that called that function can send any data as long as the clock signals are valid. If you use this function, you should assume on the other microcontroller that the data that gets sent must be ignored. You could also use a logic analyzer to trace the SPI data exchange between two microcontrollers when using HAL_SPI_Transmit() and HAL_SPI_Receive().

Does HAL_SPI_Transmit() discard received data?

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