Add Bootstrap 5 and Font Awesome 6 to Rails 7

There is an easy way to add Bootstrap while creating an app using the Rails Command Line but here I have shown how to add them manually. In addition to adding Bootstrap 5 and Font Awesome 6 to our Rails 7 app, we will be adding JQuery, custom scss (custom.scss) and custom javascript (my_script.js) to the Rails 7 app.

Version

ruby 3.1.2
Rails 7.0.3.1
Bootstrap 5.2.0
Font Awesome 6.1.2

Instructions

In the Gemfile add:

gem "sassc-rails"
gem "bootstrap", "~> 5.2.0"
gem "jquery-rails"

Remember to bundle install in terminal before proceeding.

In terminal, (1) add Font Awesome, (2) Rename application.css to application.scss, (3) create custom.scss (4) create my_script.js:

$ bin/importmap pin @fortawesome/fontawesome-free
$ mv app/assets/stylesheets/application.css app/assets/stylesheets/application.scss
$ touch app/assets/stylesheets/custom.scss
$ touch app/javascript/my_script.js

Remove all the *= require and *= require_tree statements from application.scss

In app/assets/stylesheets/application.scss import bootstrap and custom.scss:

// Custom bootstrap variables must be set or imported *before* bootstrap.
@import "bootstrap";
@import "custom";

Enable Inline Source Maps in config/environments/development.rb:

config.sass.inline_source_maps = true

To properly enable it, clear your asset cache and restart the rails server:

$ rm -r tmp/cache/assets

In config/importmap.rb:

# From "jquery-rails" gem
pin "jquery", to: "jquery3.min.js", preload: true
pin "jquery_ujs", to: "jquery_ujs.js", preload: true

# From "bootstrap" gem
pin "bootstrap", to: "bootstrap.min.js", preload: true
pin "@popperjs/core", to: "popper.js", preload: true

# Use all.js instead of fontawesome.js
pin "@fortawesome/fontawesome-free", to: "https://ga.jspm.io/npm:@fortawesome/fontawesome-free@6.1.2/js/all.js"

# Custom JS
pin "my_script", to: "my_script.js", preload: true

In config/initializers/assets.rb (add js files that came with the gem):

Rails.application.config.assets.precompile += %w( jquery3.min.js jquery_ujs.js bootstrap.min.js popper.js )

In application.js:

import "jquery";
import "jquery_ujs";
import "@popperjs/core";
import "bootstrap";
import "@fortawesome/fontawesome-free";
import "my_script";

In custom.scss:

body {
  background-color: #888;
}

In my_script.js:

// Test if jquery is loaded by typing $.fn.jquery in the console as per
// https://stackoverflow.com/questions/6973941/how-to-check-what-version-of-jquery-is-loaded/26674265#26674265

// This function runs on every page "load"
document.addEventListener("turbo:load", () => {
  const popoverTriggerList = document.querySelectorAll('[data-bs-toggle="popover"]');
  const popoverList = [...popoverTriggerList].map((popoverTriggerEl) => new bootstrap.Popover(popoverTriggerEl));
});

Important Note

The only time you need to add to config.assets.precompile in assets.rb is when you want to add JavaScript from a gem. In other words when using ./bin/importmap pin command to add JavaScript files, you do not need to add anything in assets.rb
Any time you have a custom JavaScript file, you have to include it in importmap.rb. For e.g. add line: pin "my_script", to: "my_script.js", preload: true to importmap.rb and add line import "my_script.js" to application.js. If you add custom JavaScript files in your application.js file and not in importmap.rb, your app may function in development mode but in production mode your JavaScript files will not get loaded.

Testing to see if Bootstrap and JS work as expected

Create home controller with index action

$ rails g controller home index

Add Bootstrap modal component in app/views/home/index.html.erb:

<div class="container">
  <div class="row">
    <div class="col-md-4 mt-4">

      <i class="fa-solid fa-house fa-2xl mx-3"></i>
      <i class="fa-solid fa-plane fa-2xl mx-3"></i>
      <i class="fa-solid fa-martini-glass fa-2xl mx-3"></i>

    </div>
    <div class="col-md-8 mt-4">
      <button type="button" class="btn btn-lg btn-danger" data-bs-toggle="popover" data-bs-title="Popover title" data-bs-content="And here's some amazing content. It's very engaging. Right?">Click to toggle popover</button>
    </div>
  </div>

  <div class="row mt-4">
    <div class="col-md-8">
      <button type="button" class="btn btn-secondary" data-bs-container="body" data-bs-toggle="popover" data-bs-placement="top" data-bs-content="Top popover">
        Popover on top
      </button>
      <button type="button" class="btn btn-secondary" data-bs-container="body" data-bs-toggle="popover" data-bs-placement="right" data-bs-content="Right popover">
        Popover on right
      </button>
      <button type="button" class="btn btn-secondary" data-bs-container="body" data-bs-toggle="popover" data-bs-placement="bottom" data-bs-content="Bottom popover">
        Popover on bottom
      </button>
      <button type="button" class="btn btn-secondary" data-bs-container="body" data-bs-toggle="popover" data-bs-placement="left" data-bs-content="Left popover">
        Popover on left
      </button>
    </div>
  </div>
</div>

Go to http://localhost:3000. You should see popovers by clicking any button (Bootstrap and my_script.js in action). The background must be grey (set by custom.scss). You must see 3 icons: Home, Plane and Martini. Open up the web browser console and type:

$.fn.jquery

It should return the version of jQuery which is 3.6.0 at the time of writing this document.

Link to example app: https://github.com/overdrivemachines/bootstrap-rails7

Blog

Add Bootstrap 5 and Font Awesome 6 to Rails 7

Dipen Chauhan

Version

Instructions

Important Note

Testing to see if Bootstrap and JS work as expected

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