[Question] External interface contact of some kind, non-database.

[switchy]

I know I can just add a table to a SD2 database and manipulate the contents of this table, and then crontab an external script to iterate the contents to pull this off, but I was hoping for a more event-based, solid solution.

Basically, I want to query a web resource (SOAP if easiest, doesn't matter) from inside MaNGOS.

For instance, if I gossip with a vendor, I might want to display some dynamic content from the web (that is produced as the result of an action), or, one of those vendor actions might trigger something on the website.

This can be done via polling an SD2 'actions' type of a DB table (not the ideal way due to resource/general hackiness of it)

I didn't know if there was another function I could use in game to make a simple HTTP request or otherwise... I've searched around, dug through the code to the best of my ability, and have found nothing.. any ideas or knowledge beyond simple iteration and polling of the DB would be quite helpful