Redmine

Hi all,

i need some advice regarding a plugin that i want to create for Redmine.
the idea is simple: we have a script which generates a report which is emailed to us. what i would like to do is create a plugin that will extending the Rest API with a method, that allows an app to send data in xml format or json to this method in redmine. when this method receives this data it will store this data. Then when a user logs in, a new link will be displayed next to home, when a user clicks on this link, it will display the external data store.

basically the above is like displaying data from external system in redmine, a plugin might be too much for such a simple task but maybe someone else might benefit by me creating this feature in a plugin.

what i'm looking for is some general advice mainly on extending Rest API with a method that will receive data and store this data in some table separate from redmine? there's no need to link up any redmine data at all.

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These are possible solutions i've thought of:

1. - create a separate site which will receive data, store the data and display this data, then all i need is to add an external link to this site. (easy but not what i'm looking for)
2. - simple redmine plugin that displays data from an external site. i.e Iframe. (this option would still require an external site, but still not what i want)
3. - full Redmine plugin, this plugin will do the following:
   1) create method in Rest Api , this method will receive data via xml or json
   2) The method will store data
   3) A link will be available next to Home in top navigation
   4) when user clicks on it will display this external data in a table structure like a report