passing cookie/session to external page

[shaunklink]

I really need help on this.

 

I have a couple external pages that need to have a 'logoff' button.

 

I've tried using:

 

if(session_is_registered('customer_id')){

echo logoffbutton code

}

 

I've also tried

 

if($_COOKIE['customer_id']){

etc

}

 

The directory structure is as such: catalog/products/productname/index.php

 

I've tried doing the ''require application_top.php" code, but because the file structure is different I get alot of errors.

 

I also have force cookie mode on, is this the problem?

 

please help, it just looks plain bad that all of the pages within the engine have a logoff button that is enabled if the user is logged in, it would look bad if they disapeared.