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https://github.com/mideind/netskrafl

Icelandic crossword game website
https://github.com/mideind/netskrafl

crossword-game dawg flask gae game-website python scrabble

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Icelandic crossword game website

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## Netskrafl - an Icelandic crossword game website



[![Join the chat at https://gitter.im/Netskrafl/Lobby](https://badges.gitter.im/Netskrafl/Lobby.svg)](https://gitter.im/Netskrafl/Lobby?utm_source=badge&utm_medium=badge&utm_campaign=pr-badge&utm_content=badge)



### English summary



This repository contains the implementation of an Icelandic crossword game

in the genre of SCRABBLE(tm). The game, which is free-to-play, is accessible

on the web at [https://netskrafl.is](https://netskrafl.is).



![Screenshot from mobile UI](/resources/ScreencapMobile.PNG?raw=true "Screenshot from mobile UI")



The game backend is implemented in Python 3.8 for the

[Google App Engine Standard Environment](https://cloud.google.com/appengine/docs/standard).



The frontend is a tablet- and smartphone-friendly web client in HTML5

and JavaScript connecting via Ajax to a Flask-based web server on the backend.



The game contains a robot crossword player written in Python. The algorithm is based

on Appel & Jacobson's classic paper

["The World's Fastest Scrabble Program"](http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs/academic/class/15451-s06/www/lectures/scrabble.pdf).

At maximum strength level, the robot always plays the highest-scoring move

possible but additional and alternative strategies can be plugged in relatively easily.

At the lowest strength level, the robot is limited to a set of common words, about a

quarter of the size of the entire word database.



The software has a range of features such as immediate tile-by-tile feedback

on word validity and score,

real-time synchronized games with clocks, Elo scoring of players, an online chat window,

and the ability to view player track records.



The game uses a word database encoded in a Directed Acyclic Word Graph (DAWG).

For Icelandic, the graph contains almost 2.3 million word forms. Further information

about the DAWG implementation can be found in README.md in the

[Skrafl repository](https://github.com/vthorsteinsson/Skrafl) on GitHub.



The game mechanics are mostly found in ```skraflmechanics.py```.



The robot player is implemented in ```skraflplayer.py```.



The DAWG navigation code is in ```dawgdictionary.py```.



Language-specific tile sets, bags and vocabularies are handled in ```languages.py```.



The main Flask web server is in ```netskrafl.py```.



The Game and User classes are found in ```skraflgame.py``` and ```skrafluser.py```, respectively.



The persistence layer, using the schemaless App Engine NDB database, is in ```skrafldb.py```.



The client JavaScript code is in ```static/netskrafl.js```.



The various Flask HTML templates are found in ```templates/*.html```.



The DAWG-compressed vocabularies are stored in ```resources/*.bin.dawg```.



### To build and run locally



#### Follow these steps:



0. Install [Python 3.11](https://www.python.org/downloads/release/python-3116/), possibly in a [virtualenv](https://pypi.python.org/pypi/virtualenv).



1. Download the [Google App Engine SDK](https://cloud.google.com/appengine/downloads)

(GAE) for Python and follow the installation instructions.



2. ```git clone https://github.com/mideind/Netskrafl``` to your GAE application directory.



3. Run ```pip install -r requirements.txt``` in your virtualenv to install

required Python packages so that they are accessible to GAE. To run locally you will also need to install the icegrams package ```pip install icegrams```



4. Run ```python utils/dawgbuilder.py all``` to generate the DAWG ```*.bin.dawg``` files. This may

take a couple of minutes.



5. You will need a secret session key for Flask. The secret session key is stored in Google Cloud secret manager.

For information on Flask sessions see [Flask Session documentation](https://flask.palletsprojects.com/en/3.0.x/quickstart/#sessions).



6. Install [Node.js](https://nodejs.org/en/download/) if you haven't already.

Run ```npm install``` to install Node dependencies.



7. In a separate terminal window, but in the Netskrafl directory, run ```grunt make```.

Then run ```grunt``` to start watching changes of js and css files.



8. Run either ```runserver.bat``` or ```runserver.sh```.



#### Or, alternatively:



Run ```./setup-dev.sh``` (tested on Debian based Linux and OS X).



### Generating a new vocabulary file



To generate a new vocabulary file (```ordalisti.full.sorted.txt```), assuming you already

have the BÍN database in PostgreSQL (here in table ```sigrunarsnid``` - remember to use the

```is_IS``` collation locale!), invoke ```psql```, log in to your database and

create the following view:



```sql

create or replace view skrafl as

   select stofn, utg, ordfl, fl, ordmynd, beyging from sigrunarsnid

   where ordmynd ~ '^[aábdðeéfghiíjklmnoóprstuúvxyýþæö]{3,15}$'

   and fl <> 'bibl'

   and not ((beyging like 'SP-%-FT') or (beyging like 'SP-%-FT2'))

   order by ordmynd;

```



To explain, this extracts all 3-15 letter word forms containing only Icelandic lowercase

alphabetic characters, omitting the *bibl* (Biblical) category (which contains mostly

obscure proper names and derivations thereof), and also omitting plural question

forms (*spurnarmyndir í fleirtölu*).



Then, to generate the vocabulary file from the ```psql``` command line:



```sql

\copy (select distinct ordmynd from skrafl) to '/home/username/github/Netskrafl/resources/ordalisti.full.sorted.txt';

```



To extract only the subset of BÍN used by the robot *Miðlungur*, use the following

view, assuming you have the *Kristínarsnið* form of BÍN in the table ```kristinarsnid```

containing the ```malsnid``` and ```einkunn``` columns:



```sql

create or replace view skrafl_midlungur as

	select stofn, utg, ordfl, fl, ordmynd, beyging

	from kristinarsnid

	where (malsnid is null or (malsnid <> ALL (ARRAY['SKALD', 'FORN', 'URE', 'STAD'])))

		and einkunn > 0;

```



You can then use the ```skrafl_midlungur``` view as the underlying table for the previous

(vocabulary) query, replacing ```sigrunarsnid``` with ```skrafl_midlungur```.



### Original Author

Vilhjálmur Þorsteinsson, Reykjavík, Iceland.



Contact me via GitHub for queries or information regarding Netskrafl.



Please contact me if you have plans for using Netskrafl as a basis for your

own game website and prefer not to operate under the conditions of the

CC-BY-NC 4.0 license (see below).



### License



*Netskrafl - an Icelandic crossword game website*



*Copyright © 2023 Miðeind ehf.*



This set of programs is licensed under the *Creative Commons*

*Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International Public License* (CC-BY-NC 4.0).



The full text of the license is available here:

[https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/legalcode](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/legalcode).



### Included third party software



Netskrafl contains the *DragDropTouch.js* module by Bernardo Castilho,

which is licensed under the MIT license as follows:



	Copyright © 2016 Bernardo Castilho



	Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy

	of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal

	in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights

	to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell

	copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is

	furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:



	The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all

	copies or substantial portions of the Software.



	THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR

	IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,

	FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE

	AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER

	LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,

	OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE

	SOFTWARE.



Netskrafl contains the *jQuery UI Touch Punch* library by David Furfero, which

is licensed under the MIT license.



	Copyright © 2011 David Furfero



	The MIT license, as spelled out above, applies to this library.



### Trademarks



*SCRABBLE is a registered trademark. This software or its author are in no way

affiliated with or endorsed by the owners or licensees of the SCRABBLE trademark.*