Passing parameters for article content via url

[pseps]

Hi,
I am new to Joomla and am quite impressed. I am trying to migrate to Joomla a php site, where I frequently generate pages where content is based on parameters passed via the url (e.g. company_profile.php?name=IBM) and data is pulled from a database to generate the company profile.
From what I have learned so far, it is possible to include php code in the body of an article (e.g. by using the includePHP plugin), but I haven't yet found a way of passing parameters via a hyperlink.
Ideally I would like to have a list of companies with hyperlinks that point to their profiles.
Would any one have a suggestion how this can be done, or guide me to material that I could read?
Thanks,
Max

[ianmac]

Try taking a look at:
http://dev.joomla.org/component/option, ... :jrequest/

Ian

[pseps]

Thank you!
Will try to make sense of it...