18 KiB
title: Requirements summary: How to include and require other assets in your templates such as javascript and CSS files.
Requirements
The requirements class takes care of including CSS and JavaScript into your applications. This is preferred to hard
coding any references in the <head>
tag of your template, as it enables a more flexible handling through the
Requirements class.
The examples below are using certain folder naming conventions (CSS files in css/
, JavaScript files in javascript/
).
SilverStripe core modules like cms
use a different naming convention (CSS and JavaScript files in client/src/
).
The Requirements
class can work with arbitrary file paths.
Exposing static assets
Before requiring static asset files in PHP code or in a template, those assets need to be "exposed". This process allows SilverStripe projects and SilverStripe modules to make static asset files available via the web server from locations that would otherwise be blocked from web server access, such as the vendor
folder.
Configuring your project "exposed" folders
Exposed assets are made available in your web root in a dedicated "resources" directory. Prior to SilverStripe 4.4, the name of this directory was hardcoded to resources
. In SilverStripe 4.4 and above, the name of the resources directory can be configured by defining the extra.resources-dir
key in your composer.json
. SilverStripe projects created from silverstripe/installer
4.4 and above will automatically be configured to use _resources
as their resource directory.
Each folder that needs to be exposed must be entered under the extra.expose
key in your composer.json
file. Module developers should use a path relative to the root of their module (don't include the "vendor/package-developer/package-name" path).
This is a sample SilverStripe project composer.json
file configured to expose some assets.
{
"name": "app/myproject",
"type": "silverstripe-project",
"require": {
"silverstripe/recipe-cms": "4.4.x-dev"
},
"extra": {
"resources-dir": "_resources",
"expose": [
"app/client/dist",
"app/images"
]
}
}
Files contained inside the app/client/dist
and app/images
will be made publicly available under the _resources
directory.
SilverStripe projects should not track the "resources" directory in their source control system.
Exposing assets in the web root
SilverStripe projects ship with silverstripe/vendor-plugin. This Composer plugin automatically tries to expose assets from your project and installed modules after installation, or after an update.
Developers can explicitly expose static assets by calling composer vendor-expose
. This is necessary after updating your resources-dir
or expose
configuration in your composer.json
file.
composer vendor-expose
accepts an optional method
argument (e.g.: composer vendor-expose auto
). This controls how the files are exposed in the "resources" directory:
none
disables all symlink / copycopy
copies the exposed filessymlink
create symbolic links to the exposed folderjunction
uses a junction (Windows only)auto
creates symbolic links (or junctions on Windows), but fails over to copy.
Referencing exposed assets
When referencing exposed static assets, use either the project file path (relative to the project root folder) or a module name and relative file path to that module's root folder. E.g.:
// When referencing project files, use the same path defined in your `composer.json` file.
Requirements::javascript('app/client/dist/bundle.js');
// When referencing theme files, use a path relative to the root of your project
Requirements::javascript('themes/simple/javascript/script.js');
// When referencing files from a module, you need to prefix the path with the module name.
Requirements::javascript('silverstripe/admin:client/dist/js/bundle.js');
When rendered in HTML code, these URLs will be rewritten to their matching path inside the "resources" directory.
Template Requirements API
/templates/SomeTemplate.ss
<% require css("<my-module-dir>/css/some_file.css") %>
<% require themedCSS("some_themed_file") %>
<% require javascript("<my-module-dir>/javascript/some_file.js") %>
PHP Requirements API
It is common practice to include most Requirements either in the init()-method of your controller, or as close to rendering as possible (e.g. in FormField).
use SilverStripe\Control\Director;
use SilverStripe\View\Requirements;
class MyCustomController extends Controller
{
protected function init()
{
parent::init();
Requirements::javascript("<my-module-dir>/javascript/some_file.js");
Requirements::css("<my-module-dir>/css/some_file.css");
}
}
CSS Files
use SilverStripe\View\Requirements;
Requirements::css($path, $media);
If you're using the CSS method a second argument can be used. This argument defines the 'media' attribute of the
<link>
element, so you can define 'screen' or 'print' for example.
Requirements::css("<my-module-dir>/css/some_file.css", "screen,projection");
Javascript Files
Requirements::javascript($path, $options);
A variant on the inclusion of custom javascript is the inclusion of templated javascript. Here, you keep your JavaScript in a separate file and instead load, via search and replace, several PHP-generated variables into that code.
$vars = [
"MemberID" => Security::getCurrentUser()->ID,
];
Requirements::javascriptTemplate("<my-module-dir>/javascript/some_file.js", $vars);
In this example, some_file.js
is expected to contain a replaceable variable expressed as MemberID
.
If you are using front-end script combination mechanisms, you can optionally declare that your included files provide these scripts. This will ensure that subsequent Requirement calls that rely on those included scripts will not double include those files.
Requirements::javascript('<my-module-dir>/javascript/dist/bundle.js', ['provides' => [
'<my-module-dir>/javascript/jquery.js'
'<my-module-dir>/javascript/src/main.js',
'<my-module-dir>/javascript/src/functions.js'
]]);
Requirements::javascript('<my-module-dir>/javascript/jquery.js'); // Will will skip this file
You can also use the second argument to add the 'async' and/or 'defer attributes to the script tag generated:
Requirements::javascript(
"<my-module-dir>/javascript/some_file.js",
[
"async" => true,
"defer" => true,
]
);
Custom Inline CSS or Javascript
You can also quote custom script directly. This may seem a bit ugly, but is useful when you need to transfer some kind
of 'configuration' from the database in a raw format. You'll need to use the heredoc
syntax to quote JS and CSS,
this is generally speaking the best way to do these things - it clearly marks the copy as belonging to a different
language.
Requirements::customScript(<<<JS
alert("hi there");
JS
);
Requirements::customCSS(<<<CSS
.tree li.$className {
background-image: url($icon);
}
CSS
);
Combining Files
You can concatenate several CSS or javascript files into a single dynamically generated file. This increases performance by reducing HTTP requests.
Requirements::combine_files(
'foobar.js',
[
'<my-module-dir>/javascript/foo.js',
'<my-module-dir>/javascript/bar.js',
]
);
Configuring combined file storage
In some situations or server configurations, it may be necessary to customise the behaviour of generated javascript files in order to ensure that current files are served in requests.
By default, files will be generated on demand in the format assets/_combinedfiles/name-<hash>.js
,
where <hash>
represents the hash of the source files used to generate that content. The default flysystem backend,
as used by the [AssetStore](api:SilverStripe\Assets\Storage\AssetStore)
backend, is used for this storage, but it can be substituted for any
other backend.
You can also use any of the below options in order to tweak this behaviour:
Requirements.disable_flush_combined
- By default all combined files are deleted on flush. If combined files are stored in source control, and thus updated manually, you might want to turn this on to disable this behaviour.Requirements_Backend.combine_hash_querystring
- By default the<hash>
of the source files is appended to the end of the combined file (prior to the file extension). If combined files are versioned in source control, or running in a distributed environment (such as one where the newest version of a file may not always be immediately available) then it may sometimes be necessary to disable this. When this is set to true, the hash will instead be appended via a querystring parameter to enable cache busting, but not in the filename itself. I.e.assets/_combinedfiles/name.js?m=<hash>
Requirements_Backend.default_combined_files_folder
- This defaults to_combinedfiles
, and is the folder within the configured asset backend that combined files will be stored in. If using a backend shared with other systems, it is usually necessary to distinguish combined files from other assets.Requirements_Backend.combine_in_dev
- By default combined files will not be combined except in test or live environments. Turning this on will allow for pre-combining of files in development mode.
In some cases it may be necessary to create a new storage backend for combined files, if the default location
is not appropriate. Normally a single backend is used for all site assets, so a number of objects must be
replaced. For instance, the below will set a new set of dependencies to write to app/javascript/combined
---
Name: myrequirements
---
SilverStripe\View\Requirements:
disable_flush_combined: true
SilverStripe\View\Requirements_Backend:
combine_in_dev: true
combine_hash_querystring: true
default_combined_files_folder: 'combined'
SilverStripe\Core\Injector\Injector:
# Create adapter that points to the custom directory root
SilverStripe\Assets\Flysystem\PublicAdapter.custom-adapter:
class: SilverStripe\Assets\Flysystem\PublicAssetAdapter
constructor:
Root: ./app/javascript
# Set flysystem filesystem that uses this adapter
League\Flysystem\Filesystem.custom-filesystem:
class: 'League\Flysystem\Filesystem'
constructor:
Adapter: '%$SilverStripe\Assets\Flysystem\PublicAdapter.custom-adapter'
# Create handler to generate assets using this filesystem
SilverStripe\Assets\Storage\GeneratedAssetHandler.custom-generated-assets:
class: SilverStripe\Assets\Flysystem\GeneratedAssets
properties:
Filesystem: %$League\Flysystem\Filesystem.custom-filesystem
# Assign this generator to the requirements builder
SilverStripe\View\Requirements_Backend:
properties:
AssetHandler: '%$SilverStripe\Assets\Storage\GeneratedAssetHandler.custom-generated-assets'
In the above configuration, automatic expiry of generated files has been disabled, and it is necessary for the developer to maintain these files manually. This may be useful in environments where assets must be pre-cached, where scripts must be served alongside static files, or where no framework php request is guaranteed. Alternatively, files may be served from instances other than the one which generated the page response, and file synchronisation might not occur fast enough to propagate combined files to mirrored filesystems.
In any case, care should be taken to determine the mechanism appropriate for your development and production environments.
Combined CSS Files
You can also combine CSS files into a media-specific stylesheets as you would with the Requirements::css
call - use
the third paramter of the combine_files
function:
$loader = SilverStripe\View\ThemeResourceLoader::inst();
$themes = SilverStripe\View\SSViewer::get_themes();
$printStylesheets = [
$loader->findThemedCSS('print_HomePage.css', $themes),
$loader->findThemedCSS('print_Page.css', $themes)
];
SilverStripe\View\Requirements::combine_files('print.css', $printStylesheets, 'print');
By default, all requirements files are flushed (deleted) when ?flush querystring parameter is set.
This can be disabled by setting the Requirements.disable_flush_combined
config to true
.
Combined JS Files
You can also add the 'async' and/or 'defer' attributes to combined Javascript files as you would with the
Requirements::javascript
call - use the third paramter of the combine_files
function:
$loader = SilverStripe\View\ThemeResourceLoader::inst();
$themes = SilverStripe\View\SSViewer::get_themes();
$scripts = [
$loader->findThemedJavascript('some_script.js', $themes),
$loader->findThemedJavascript('some_other_script.js', $themes)
];
SilverStripe\View\Requirements::combine_files('scripts.js', $scripts, ['async' => true, 'defer' => true]);
Minification of CSS and JS files
You can minify combined Javascript and CSS files at runtime using an implementation of the
SilverStripe\View\Requirements_Minifier
interface.
namespace MyProject;
use SilverStripe\View\Requirements_Minifier;
class MyMinifier implements Requirements_Minifier
{
/**
* Minify the given content
*
* @param string $content
* @param string $type Either js or css
* @param string $filename Name of file to display in case of error
* @return string minified content
*/
public function minify ($content, $type, $fileName)
{
// Minify $content;
return $minifiedContent;
}
}
Then, inject this service in Requirements_Backend
.
SilverStripe\Core\Injector\Injector:
SilverStripe\View\Requirements_Backend:
properties:
MinifyCombinedFiles: true
Minifier: %$MyProject\MyMinifier
Clearing assets
Requirements::clear();
Clears all defined requirements. You can also clear specific requirements.
Requirements::clear('modulename/javascript/some-lib.js');
Blocking
Requirements can also be explicitly blocked from inclusion, which is useful to avoid conflicting JavaScript logic or
CSS rules. These blocking rules are independent of where the block()
call is made. It applies both for already
included requirements, and ones included after the block()
call.
One common example is to block the core jquery.js
added by various form fields and core controllers, and use a newer
version in a custom location. This assumes you have tested your application with the newer version.
Requirements::block('silverstripe/admin:thirdparty/jquery/jquery.js');
Inclusion Order
Requirements acts like a stack, where everything is rendered sequentially in the order it was included. There is no way to change inclusion-order, other than using Requirements::clear and rebuilding the whole set of requirements.
Javascript placement
By default, SilverStripe includes all Javascript files at the bottom of the page body, unless there's another script
already loaded, then, it's inserted before the first <script>
tag. If this causes problems, it can be configured.
Requirements::set_force_js_to_bottom(true);
Requirements.force_js_to_bottom
, will force SilverStripe to write the Javascript to the bottom of the page body, even
if there is an earlier script tag.
If the Javascript files are preferred to be placed in the <head>
tag rather than in the <body>
tag,
Requirements.write_js_to_body
should be set to false.
Requirements::set_write_js_to_body(false);
Direct resource urls
In templates, you can use the $resourcePath()
or $resourceURL()
helper methods to inject links to
resources directly. If you want to link to resources within a specific module you can use
the vendor/module:some/path/to/file.jpg
syntax.
E.g.
<div class="loading">
<img src="$resourceURL('silverstripe/admin:client/dist/images/spinner.gif')" />
</div>
In PHP you can directly resolve these urls using the ModuleResourceLoader
helper.
$file = ModuleResourceLoader::singleton()
->resolveURL('silverstripe/admin:client/dist/images/spinner.gif');