Hey there! I’ve run into this exact problem before—since the official yii\jui extension is no longer maintained and stuck on outdated jQuery UI versions, upgrading requires a bit of targeted work. Here are the most reliable approaches to get jQuery UI 13.1 running smoothly in your Yii2 project:

Option 1: Switch to a Community-Maintained yii\jui Fork #

If you want to keep using the familiar widget wrapper pattern instead of writing raw JavaScript, look for active forks of yiisoft/yii2-jui on Packagist. Many community developers have updated these forks to support newer jQuery UI versions while preserving the original API.

• Steps:
  1. Remove the unmaintained official package from your project:

     composer remove yiisoft/yii2-jui
     

  2. Install a maintained fork (search Packagist for "yii2 jui" to find the latest active one—prioritize packages with recent updates):

     composer require [maintainer-name]/yii2-jui:^13.1
     

  3. Most forks retain the original yii\jui namespace, so you won’t need to rewrite any existing widget code (e.g., \yii\jui\DatePicker will work exactly as before, but with the upgraded jQuery UI under the hood).

Option 2: Manually Integrate jQuery UI 13.1 (Recommended for Long-Term) #

Ditching the outdated yii\jui wrapper and using raw jQuery UI gives you full control over the version and configuration. This is the most sustainable approach for ongoing project maintenance.

• Steps:
  1. Remove the old yii\jui package:

     composer remove yiisoft/yii2-jui
     

  2. Install jQuery UI 13.1 via Composer (using Yii2’s standard asset plugin):

     composer require bower-asset/jquery-ui:13.1.*
     

  3. Register jQuery UI’s CSS and JS in your main layout file (e.g., views/layouts/main.php):

     // Ensure jQuery is loaded first (Yii2's JqueryAsset handles this)
     \yii\web\JqueryAsset::register($this);
     // Register jQuery UI styles
     $this->registerCssFile('@web/vendor/jquery-ui/jquery-ui.min.css');
     // Register jQuery UI script, with a dependency on jQuery
     $this->registerJsFile(
         '@web/vendor/jquery-ui/jquery-ui.min.js',
         ['depends' => \yii\web\JqueryAsset::class]
     );
     

  4. Replace your existing yii\jui widget calls with raw jQuery UI initialization. For example, converting a date picker:

     <!-- Replace \yii\jui\DatePicker with a plain text input -->
     <?= $form->field($model, 'event_date')->textInput(['id' => 'event-date-picker']) ?>
     
     <?php
     // Initialize the date picker with your desired configuration
     $this->registerJs("
         $('#event-date-picker').datepicker({
             dateFormat: 'yy-mm-dd',
             changeMonth: true,
             changeYear: true
         });
     ");
     ?>
     

Option 3: Patch the Official yii\jui Package (Not Recommended) #

If you need a quick, temporary fix and don’t mind losing Composer update support, you can manually replace the assets in the official package. Note: This change will be overwritten if you ever run composer update on yiisoft/yii2-jui.

• Steps:
  1. Download jQuery UI 13.1 from the official source, then extract the CSS and JS files.
  2. Navigate to your project’s vendor/yiisoft/yii2-jui/assets directory.
  3. Replace the existing jQuery UI CSS/JS files with the 13.1 versions.
  4. Update the JuiAsset.php file in vendor/yiisoft/yii2-jui to point to the new files and update the version number:

     class JuiAsset extends AssetBundle
     {
         public $sourcePath = '@bower/jquery-ui';
         public $css = [
             'jquery-ui.min.css',
         ];
         public $js = [
             'jquery-ui.min.js',
         ];
         public $depends = [
             'yii\web\JqueryAsset',
         ];
         // Match the version to jQuery UI 13.1
         public $version = '13.1.0';
     }
     

Key Notes #

• jQuery Compatibility: Ensure your Yii2 project’s jQuery version is compatible with jQuery UI 13.1 (it requires jQuery 3.6.0+—Yii2’s default jQuery 3.x should work, but double-check if you’ve modified your project’s jQuery setup).
• API Changes: jQuery UI 13.1 may have minor API adjustments compared to the old version used by yii\jui. Review the official jQuery UI documentation to tweak any configuration options that break.

内容的提问来源于stack exchange，提问作者Phythagorasam