I'm looking for alternative methods to get data out of ALM without using the UI.
Currently the users make extensive use of the Excel Report option in the Dashboard to run SQL queries to get data. They don't want a verbose Standard or Project report. They don't necessarily want a graph. They want the "raw" data from the database. They don't necessarily want Excel output, but that is the form that is available.
They would like to be able to get the same data, run the same queries, without having to use the UI.
I know that they could run the queries using the Command object from the OTA API. I'd rather not enable that for all users, since it doesn't limit the types of queries that can be executed. I only want the users to be able to run "read data" types of queries. I don't want them to be able to update the database.
I believe they ultimately they could get the same data by using the OTA API, but it would take a lot more coding. I've also run some trials myself of queries through the Command object vs. getting the same data using the entity factories in the API, and found the query performance is far superior.
I've toyed with the idea of setting up a read-only database user with a static password in every project, and letting the users run queries using whatever database connection method they want along with that generic user for credentials. But that bypasses the maximum record return restriction that can be set in the Site Configuration. It also eliminates our ability to identity who is actually creating and running the queries. And the user has to know which database server their project is actually on.
I've thought about the REST API. Seems like that would involve almost as much coding as using the OTA API.
Does anybody have any other ideas?