Relative Paths and the Asset Pipeline

I often use jQuery plugins (among others) in my applications and prefer to store them in a single directory. Typically saving them in app/vendor/javascripts/plugin

|-project
  |-app
  |-lib
  |-vendor
    |-assets
      |-javascripts
        |-plugin
      |-stylesheets

Sometimes the plugins contain other assets such as stylesheets, but requiring stylesheets from within the javascript directory can be a pain in the ass unless you know what you’re doing.

Simply add a require statement to the stylesheet manifest that looks like this.

*= require ../../../vendor/assets/plugin/plugin.css

Alternate Solution

A better solution might be to move the plugin’s folder directly under assets.

|-project
  |-app
  |-lib
  |-vendor
    |-assets
      |-javascripts
      |-plugin
      |-stylesheets

Then you can require the plugin’s files just as you would anything else. Just be sure to watch out for naming collisions as your project grows.