Adding a jQuery Plugin into a Ruby on Rails App

Question

I'm working on a website that uses HTML, CSS, and JavaScript with jQuery plugins. In order to make the website more dynamic, I shifted my code to Ruby on Rails. The HTML and CSS are fine, but some of the jQuery plugins that I had working before aren't functioning anymore.

I tried multiple ways to fix this. I first added the javascript files into app/assets/javascripts and then added //= require pluginfilename in application.js and then <%= javascript_include_tag name..... %> but that didn't work.

Is there something that I'm missing or doing wrong? I'm fairly new to Rails. This is version 4.2.3 btw.

Edit: this is my application.js file

// This is a manifest file that'll be compiled into application.js, which         will include all the files
// listed below.
//
// Any JavaScript/Coffee file within this directory, lib/assets/javascripts, vendor/assets/javascripts,
// or any plugin's vendor/assets/javascripts directory can be referenced here using a relative path.
//
// It's not advisable to add code directly here, but if you do, it'll appear at the bottom of the
// compiled file.
//
// Read Sprockets README (https://github.com/rails/sprockets#sprockets-directives) for details
// about supported directives.
//
//= require jquery
//= require jquery_ujs
//= require bootstrap.min
//= require turbolinks
//= require countdown
//= require grid
//= require custom
//= require script
//= require_tree .

Answer 1

First thing I would do would be to try and find a version of the plugin that's distributed via CDN, then including it via <%= javascript_include_tag link %>.

Barring that...

Did you do a //= require pluginfilename without the extension? Can you paste in your application.js file so we can take a look?

Also, what errors are you getting your JS console? Are you ensuring that the plugin is being loaded before it's being used? (Load order in the application.js file matters.)

Answer 2

You can find a bridge between Bower and Rails with Rails-Assets.org . I've used this for several projects and it works nicely. If your plugins are using bower, they should exist on Rails-Assets.org