Install php dependencies¶

To start to use Akeneo PIM you need to install the php dependencies:

composer install

It can be confusing to have to install php dependencies to manage the frontend of an application but for now we still use assetic to copy or symlink assets to the public folder of the application.

Dump assets¶

After this step you will be able to launch the pim asset install command:

bin/console pim:installer:assets --symlink

With this command, Symfony will symlink the assets located in the Resources/public folder of every registered bundles to their respective public/bundles folders. We recommend to always use the symlink option when developing on the PIM.

This command also compiles the old requirejs configuration and translation files into javascript code later injected in the frontend modules.

Compile less files¶

The .less files are compiled into a main CSS file with less.js.

yarn run less

Run webpack¶

The last step is now to run the webpack compilation step to generate the final javascript artefacts.

yarn run webpack-dev

Sum up¶

With those steps, we just prepared everything to get started to contribute to the frontend part of the application. You are now ready to launch the application and start to experiment with it.

What to do if I updated a translation?¶

To rebuild the frontend translations you need to run:

rm -rf var/cache/*
rm -rf public/js/translation/your_updated_locale.js
bin/console oro:translation:dump your_updated_locale

What to do if I updated a .less/.css file?¶

yarn run less

What to do if I updated a form_extension**.yml file?¶

rm -rf var/cache
bin/console --env=prod pim:installer:dump-extensions
yarn webpack-dev

What to do if I updated a requirejs.yml file?¶

rm -rf var/cache
bin/console --env=prod pim:installer:dump-require-paths
yarn webpack-dev

Conclusion¶

With those commands you now know what to do exactly when you modify some files on the PIM. But most of the time there are more efficient way to do.

If you touch a configuration file, a .less file or a translation file (anything but a javascript file)¶

run this command:

rm -rf ./var/cache/*; rm -rf ./public/js/*; rm -rf ./public/css/*; php bin/console pim:installer:assets --env=prod --symlink;

We strongly advise you to create an alias

If you only modify a javascript file¶

Instead, you can simply run

yarn webpack-watch

This will run the initial build of webpack and then recompile each time you modify a javascript file (and reload your browser).

yarn webpack¶

This first command will build the javascript file for production. The javascript will be minified and this process can take a lot of time. It’s not advised to use this command in development phase.

yarn webpack-dev¶

This command will build the javascript artefacts in development mode. The size of the generated bundle will be higher and quicker to generate. It’s the prefered way to rebuild the frontend after checking out another branch when you are not actively working on the frontend.

yarn webpack-watch¶

This command does exactly what the yarn webpack command does but will not exit at the end of the process. Instead, it will wait for modifications and recompile the changed files if needed. It will then reload your browser to see the modifications in the PIM.