How to install/update javascript vendors in symfony2 project?

There may be fancier ways... but I just use the paths in my base template like so:

{% javascripts    filter='yui_js'    '../vendor/twitter/bootstrap/js/bootstrap-tab.js'    '../vendor/harvesthq/chosen/coffee/lib/select-parser.coffee'    '../vendor/harvesthq/chosen/coffee/lib/abstract-chosen.coffee'    '../vendor/harvesthq/chosen/coffee/chosen.jquery.coffee'    '@SOTBCoreBundle/Resources/public/js/script.js'%}    <script src="{{ asset_url }}"></script>{% endjavascripts %}

Composer can be used to manage javascript dependencies as well. By default composer is using only one repository called Packagist which is a repository for PHP libraries only. However, as suggested here, you can add your own repositories for javascript (or any other) libraries.

Here's my composer.json that adds a custom knockout-js repository:

{    "require": {        "php": ">=5.3.2",        "symfony/symfony": ">=2.0.10,<2.1.0-dev",        "doctrine/orm": ">=2.1.0,<2.2.0-dev",        "twig/extensions": "*",        "symfony/assetic-bundle": "2.0.*",        "sensio/generator-bundle": "2.0.*",        "sensio/framework-extra-bundle": "2.0.*",        "sensio/distribution-bundle": "2.0.*",        "jms/security-extra-bundle": "1.0.*",        "knockout/knockout-js": "2.1.0"    },    "autoload": {        "psr-0": {            "Acme": "src/"        }    },    "repositories": [        {            "type": "package",            "package": {                "name": "knockout/knockout-js",                "version": "2.1.0",                "source": {                    "type": "git",                    "url": "https://github.com/SteveSanderson/knockout.git",                    "reference": "v2.1.0"                }            }        },        {            "type": "package",            "package": {                "name": "knockout/knockout-js",                "version": "2.0.0",                "source": {                    "type": "git",                    "url": "https://github.com/SteveSanderson/knockout.git",                    "reference": "v2.0.0"                }            }        }    ]}

Repository consists of packages (which is combination of source and version of library). Here I have 2 packages (2.1.0, 2.0.0) that already contain pre-built source of knockout.js, so you don't have to compile anything.

Now, there are times when you might want to compile and use latest code. To automate this routine, i figured, one can use git post-checkout hook.Add a new package that refers to the latest code:

    {        "type": "package",        "package": {            "name": "knockout/knockout-js",            "version": "master",            "source": {                "type": "git",                "url": "https://github.com/SteveSanderson/knockout.git",                "reference": "master"            }        }    }

Reference this package in require section:

"knockout/knockout-js": "master"

And a post-checkout hook with build instructions. For knockout.js it is simple:

// vendor/knockout/knockout-js/.git/hooks/post-checkout#!/bin/shecho "Building knockout.js";`cd build && ./build-linux`;

If for some reason you don't want to use assetic bundle you can setup your deps (composer) to load javascript vendors into some folder under web directory.

This post describes how to do it using deps file. And this post - how to do it via composer.