The Asset class provides a simple way to manage the CSS and JavaScript used by your application. To register an asset just call the add method on the Asset class:
Asset::add('jquery', 'js/jquery.js');
The add method accepts three parameters. The first is the name of the asset, the second is the path to the asset relative to the public directory, and the third is a list of asset dependencies (more on that later). Notice that we did not tell the method if we were registering JavaScript or CSS. The add method will use the file extension to determine the type of file we are registering.
When you are ready to place the links to the registered assets on your view, you may use the styles or scripts methods:
<head>
<?php echo Asset::styles(); ?>
<?php echo Asset::scripts(); ?>
</head>
Sometimes you may need to specify that an asset has dependencies. This means that the asset requires other assets to be declared in your view before it can be declared. Managing asset dependencies couldn't be easier in Laravel. Remember the "names" you gave to your assets? You can pass them as the third parameter to the add method to declare dependencies:
Asset::add('jquery-ui', 'js/jquery-ui.js', 'jquery');
In this example, we are registering the jquery-ui asset, as well as specifying that it is dependent on the jquery asset. Now, when you place the asset links on your views, the jQuery asset will always be declared before the jQuery UI asset. Need to declare more than one dependency? No problem:
Asset::add('jquery-ui', 'js/jquery-ui.js', array('first', 'second'));
To increase response time, it is common to place JavaScript at the bottom of HTML documents. But, what if you also need to place some assets in the head of your document? No problem. The asset class provides a simple way to manage asset containers. Simply call the container method on the Asset class and mention the container name. Once you have a container instance, you are free to add any assets you wish to the container using the same syntax you are used to:
Asset::container('footer')->add('example', 'js/example.js');
echo Asset::container('footer')->scripts();
Before learning how to conveniently add and dump bundle assets, you may wish to read the documentation on creating and publishing bundle assets.
When registering assets, the paths are typically relative to the public directory. However, this is inconvenient when dealing with bundle assets, since they live in the public/bundles directory. But, remember, Laravel is here to make your life easier. So, it is simple to specify the bundle which the Asset container is managing.
Asset::container('foo')->bundle('admin');
Now, when you add an asset, you can use paths relative to the bundle's public directory. Laravel will automatically generate the correct full paths.