I'm new to Joomla, CiviCRM and PHP, but looking to help with a small project. I'm looking to grab the members data from CiviCRM and transfer (or update if users already exist) into a different database of an application (that is stand alone code/not in joomla) for users that are members of both. After the migration of existing users is done, then going forward this process would be done when a new user registers as a member in the CiviCRM. A couple questions:
- Should I write PHP/SQL to go directly against the CiviCRM Contact table or utilize the CiviCRM API?
- Where do I write the actual code to connect to the CiviCRM database, write SQL to grab data, etc.? Is it a Joomla extension, a function when the user clicks Submit in the member registration form in CiviCRM? I'm still trying to figure out the Joomla platform and how coding works in it.
- Anything else I should consider?
Thanks so much!