Creating a Private Online Library - czbar/ChessForge GitHub Wiki

To create a Private Library follow the steps below:

1. Find or create an Http/Https location

To create a Private Chess Forge Library, you need access to a Web server where you can deploy files that can be accessed using the http/https protocol. If you already have a web site hosted somewhere, you can create a library there.

Make sure that the read access is enabled on the folder where the workbooks will be uploaded.

However, if you are not hosting any web sites yet, there are some options to do it for free. We recommend that you create a GitHub account for yourself and build a GitHub Pages web site. Creating a site on Github Pages is free but does require a certain degree of technical skills.

Unfortunately, shared locations on OneDrive or Google Drive will not work, as they do not offer access to the stored files by concatenating the shared location with the file name.

2. Create the content listing

The repository location needs to contain a plain text file named LibraryContent.txt. The file lists the content of the library, which is built of 3 tiers:

  1. Bookcases - each Bookcase contains one or more shelves.
  2. Shelves - each Shelf contains one or more Books.
  3. Books - each Book entry contains a relative link to the Chess Forge PGN workbook.

A sample content of the LibraryContent.txt file is shown below:

Bookcase:Tournaments
Description: Games from tournaments and matches.

    Shelf:World Championship 
    Description: Games from World Championship Matches.
   
      Book:Men's World Championships
      Description: All games from Men's World Championship Matches and Tournaments.
      File:Tournaments/Mens World Individual Championships.pgn

      Book:World Rapid Championship 2023 (Men)
      Description: World Rapid Championship (Men), Samarkand, December 2023.
      File:Tournaments/World Rapid Chess Championship Men 2023.pgn

      Book:World Rapid Championship 2023 (Women)
      Description: World Rapid Championship (Women), Samarkand, December 2023.
      File:Tournaments/World Rapid Chess Championship Women 2023.pgn

Bookcase:Strategy Morsels
Description:Small studies of specific strategic questions.

    Shelf:
    Description: 

      Book:Black King into the Line of Fire
      Description: Black king hides in open view (semi-open b-file) on the queenside.
      File: Strategy/Strategy Ke8-d8-c7.pgn

Note that:

  • The LibraryContent.txt file is in the plain text format.
  • There can be multiple Bookcases specified in the file.
  • The Bookcase/Shelf/Books ordering must be observed, where a Shelf can have multiple Books and a Bookcase can have multiple Shelves.
  • The Description entries are optional and can be empty or omitted altogether.
  • The File entry points to the relative location of the PGN workbook at the library's address. Chess Forge will concatenate the library's Http/Https address with the value in the File entry to locate the workbook.
  • All the indents are optional, and they are only used to improve human readability of the content. Chess Forge ignores them.

3. Upload Workbooks

Place your PGN workbooks in the repository of your private library, ensuring that the File values specified in each workbook's entry in the LibraryContent.txt file match the actual location of the workbook.

4. Set up a repository as a Chess Forge Private Library:

Use the Online Library - Private option from the File menu or the Online Libraries option from the View menu (red below):

 

In the Online Libraries dialog box use the Add button (red below):

 

In the Enter Library URL dialog box, type in the URL where your private workbooks were uploaded (red below)

 

Your Chess Forge Private Online Library is now ready to use.