fixing build() behavior + documentation

Author: alex-yang-upenn

docs/advanced/vitis_accelerator.rst

@@ -38,12 +38,12 @@ Build workflow
 
 At the call of the ``build`` method, the following option affect the build process:
 
-    * ``reset``: TBD.
-    * ``csim``: TBD.
-    * ``synth``: TBD.
-    * ``cosim``: TBD.
-    * ``vsynth``: TBD.
-    * ``debug``: TBD.
+    * ``reset``: If True, clears files generated during previous build processes (STILL BEING TESTED).
+    * ``csim``: If True, builds the project for Vitis' software emulation validation flow (STILL BEING TESTED)
+    * ``synth``: If True, runs `make hls`, building object files for the kernel (STILL BEING TESTED)
+    * ``cosim``: If True, builds the project for Vitis' hardware emulation validation flow (STILL BEING TESTED)
+    * ``vsynth``: If True, runs `make xclbin`, building the .xclbin binary executable for the kernel (STILL BEING TESTED)
+    * ``debug``: If True, compiles the c++ host code and the HLS in debug mode (STILL BEING TESTED)
 
 Once the project is generated, it possible to run manually the build steps by using one of the following ``make`` targets in the generated project directory:
 
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ The generated host code application and the xclbin file can be executed as such:
 
 .. code-block:: Bash
 
-    ./host <myproject>.xclbin
+    ./host <build_directory>/<myproject>.xclbin
 
 Example
 =======
@@ -75,7 +75,9 @@ The following example is a modified version of `hsl4ml example 7 <https://github
         board='alveo-u55c',
         num_kernel=4,
         num_thread=8,
-        batchsize=8192
+        batchsize=8192,
+        hw_quant=False,
+        vivado_directives=["prop=run.impl_1.STEPS.PLACE_DESIGN.ARGS.DIRECTIVE=Explore"]
     )
     hls_model.compile()
     hls_model.build()
@@ -90,4 +92,4 @@ The generated host code application and the xclbin file can be executed as such:
 
 .. code-block:: Bash
 
-    ./host <myproject>.xclbin
+    ./host <build_directory>/<myproject>.xclbin

hls4ml/backends/vitis_accelerator/vitis_accelerator_backend.py

@@ -81,33 +81,34 @@ def build(
 
             curr_dir = os.getcwd()
             os.chdir(model.config.get_output_dir())
+            
+            if cosim:
+                target = "TARGET=hw_emu "
+            elif csim:
+                target = "TARGET=sw_emu "
 
-            if reset:
-                if vsynth:
-                    os.system("make cleanxclbin")
-                if synth:
-                    os.system("make cleanhls")
-                os.system("rm -rf host")
+            if debug:
+                target += "DEBUG"
 
             if vsynth:
                 if synth:
-                    target = "all "
+                    process = "all "
                 else:
-                    target = "xclbin "
+                    process = "xclbin "
             elif synth:
-                target = "hls "
+                process = "hls "
             else:
-                target = "host "
+                process = "host "
 
-            if cosim:
-                target += "TARGET=hw_emu "
-            elif csim:
-                target += "TARGET=sw_emu "
-
-            if debug:
-                target += "DEBUG"
+            command = "make " + process + target
 
-            command = "make " + target
+            # Cleaning
+            if reset:
+                if vsynth:
+                    os.system("make cleanxclbin " + target)
+                if synth:
+                    os.system("make cleanhls " + target)
+                os.system("rm -rf host")
 
             # Pre-loading libudev
             ldconfig_output = subprocess.check_output(["ldconfig", "-p"]).decode("utf-8")