How do I bring information from a separate database

[kwblue]

Hello,

I see that certain plugins (vb_sponsor and others) use the forums database so that they can display information for each forum. To do that, they seem to create new columns in an already large forum datatable.

I already have a database that has information needed for each forum. It has the forumid tied to it so that I could quickly join tables. However - I don't understand how to get that information into my template.

What is the best way to do this? Do I need to take all that information and create new fields in the forum datatable? Or can I somehow write a plugin or something that would allow me to pull the information I want from the already defined datatable?

I really want to do this the best way and work properly with the vBulletin system, but am not quite sure how to proceed.

Thanks in advance.