How do I update jQuery to the latest version I can download?

Question

I'm using Drupal 7, which uses jQuery 1.4 as default? How can I update it to the latest version (currently 1.7)?

Answer 1

One way is to install the dev version of jQuery Update, which gives you the option to use jQuery 1.7 (by visiting the settings page at http://mysite.com/admin/config/development/jquery_update).

Beware though, currently it's known to break JavaScript elsewhere in the site (for example the widget dropdown on a Manage Fields page will no longer work). If you're prepared to fix up that, and any other small annoyances, this is probably your best bet. You should also note that using the dev version of a module isn't without risks, as the chances of it having bugs is a lot higher than using a specific release.

If you want to do it manually then you'll have a lot of core javascript code to rewrite to make your site work as expected; jQuery changed an awful lot between version 1.4/1.5 and 1.7 so a lot of the core Drupal javascript code simply won't work with it.

If you want to just drop in a version of jQuery 1.7 then you could probably implement hook_js_alter(), unset the core jQuery file, and add your own in it's place:

function MYMODULE_js_alter(&$js) {
  $path = drupal_get_path('module', 'MYMODULE') . '/path/to/jquery.1.7.js';

  // Copy the current jQuery file settings and change
  $js[$path] = $js['misc/jquery.js'];

  // Update necessary settings
  $js[$path]['version'] = 1.7;
  $js[$path]['data'] = $path;

  // Finally remove the original jQuery
  unset($js['misc/jquery.js']);
}

Once you've done that, open up Developer Tools/Firebug and you'll see all the changes you're going to need to make to get the rest of the site JS to work :)

UPDATE

The latest version of jQuery update (7.x-2.3 at time of writing) will now allow you to update jQuery to v1.8. Very cool.

The jQuery Multi module is another option, thanks to goron for pointing that out in the comments. As he also notes, this module has a stable release and won't break any existing javascript.

Answer 2

You should also consider to use the jquery multi module which allows you to use more than one version of jquery. Great module, I'm using it for Druapl 7 and 6 on all of my projects.

Answer 3

Inspired by hook_js_alter documentation, the following works. You can place it in your theme's template.php. This requires that you use a different admin theme to avoid conflict with Drupal core, and it assumes that jquery-1.8.3.min.js is located in a folder called 'js' within the theme (adjust to suit).

function [theme_machine_name]_js_alter(&$javascript) {

  $javascript['misc/jquery.js']['data'] = drupal_get_path('theme', '[theme_machine_name]') .
    '/js/jquery-1.8.3.min.js';

  $javascript['misc/jquery.js']['version'] = '1.8.3';

}

Answer 4

I'm not sure what your purpose is here, but when I needed a specific version for custom module development I have been able to do so by using jQuery.noConflict.

It is some extra work compared to the jquery_update module (which the OP doesn't seem to mind), but it does mean that you don't have to worry about whether you're going to mess up your whole drupal installation.