Best way to include jQuery and fire with script at bottom of container

Question

I'm going to be using a jQuery slider on my homepage only (not a WP plugin, but a third party). What I'd like to do is include jQuery, the plugin's jQuery script using a .js file, then include the script needed to fire the plugin right before the closing body tag. I'm a bit confused about how that works.

I know WordPress comes with jQuery built in, so does that mean I don't need to include it again?

Looking for best practices on this. I understand there are conflict issues that need to be prevented, etc.

Thanks

Answer 1

You typically should use the jQuery version that's built in. There are instances where you might want to use wp_dequeue_script('jquery') and then add a different version of jQuery.

Here's the best way to add a script dependent on jQuery:

function theme_register_scripts(){
   wp_enqueue_script('jquery');
   wp_enqueue_script('myscript-name', get_bloginfo('stylesheet_directory') . '/js/myscript.js', array('jquery'));
}
add_action('wp_print_scripts', 'theme_register_scripts');

The third argument of wp_enqueue_script is the script dependency which we identify as jQuery. This guarantees that jQuery will be printed before your custom script is printed.

Answer 2

To add to that Brain said, you can use the enqueue_script function to add your js files to the footer if your theme uses wp_footer. Also when adding an action it is very useful when using javascript to use an order parameter so you can order them the way you wan't.

Something like:

wp_enqueue_script('myscript-name', 
                   get_bloginfo('stylesheet_directory') . '/js/myscript.js',
                   array('jquery'), 
                   'false',  //change version #
                   'true'); //in_footer?

//here we add a priority parameter to load one before the other if needed.
add_action('wp_print_scripts', 'theme_register_scripts_other', 10);
add_action('wp_print_scripts', 'theme_register_scripts', 20);   

You can also add it to the footer using wp_footer instead of wp_print_scripts

http://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Reference/wp_enqueue_script