I'm trying to develop my first component in Joomla 3.x. I'm new to the MVC paradigm and learning the basics of Joomla development.
To start, I'm trying to develop a simple component to add and display addresses. I have an Address model extending JModelItem and an Addresses model extending JModelList. I am using lookup tables for the state and city (based on zipcode). How should I look-up this information so that I'll have access to it everywhere it might be needed? Should I have models for state, city, zipcode and have the controller add those models for use in the view? Should I use helper classes? Should I use JTable and access the information in a different way? I don't know how this would be done in Joomla and the MVC paradigm.
I'd appreciate any pointers and help that can be given.