Well... I'll update anyone who might be following this thread.
First... I came to the conclusion that this shopping cart link must be added by a version of Ship in Cart that I don't have. I'm running a mix of 1.7 & 1.83.
Second... I guess it doesn't matter because I solved my problem! There are too many pages on this thread, or I would have found it earlier... but back on one of the pages in this thread, someone posted that my issue (which someone else had) had already been covered (which I couldn't find), but thankfully, they posted the fix as well! Basically, the error I was getting was being caused by my mulitple test accounts... my browser was confusing the session ids. The fix is to add this line of code to logoff.php, so that my browser only uses one at a time:
// added to fix ship in cart oscsid problem...
tep_session_unregister('cart_address_id');
So... my Ship in Cart (which is really Shipping Estimate Out of Cart for me, since I've got it on a new page)... is working just about perfect! USPS quotes aren't being pulled for me yet, but they aren't working at all, and I just tried installing it last night, so I'm assuming that once I figure out what's wrong with my installation, it will work both during checkout and in my Shipping Estimate.
In case anyone is wondering... no, it doesn't seem possible to make the shipping estimate a pop-up. (I couldn't get it to work in the pop-up, even with the identical code I've got working now.) ... but it is possible to make it a different screen. The steps that I followed, to the best of my knowledge are here, for anyone they may help. Please note that I still know very little PHP and probably can't help anyone out, if this doesn't work for them. I'm just posting it for whomever it does help. If anyone wants to see mine in action, here's a link to a current test product:
Paintball gun
Just put it in your cart, and you'll see the link appear. Click on it and you'll see.
1) Get a working version of Ship in Cart, and it's shipping_estimator.php box. I'm using a mix of 1.7 & 1.83. I was having a problem with 1.7 not working for guests, and 1.83's "update" button not working... and I probably didn't "mix" them right... I just finally got it to work so I'm leaving it be.
2) Follow the Knowledge Base's instructions for creating a new page... I called it shipping_estimate.php. Here's the link:
Adding a New Page
3) In your new page, find:
<?php echo TEXT_INFORMATION; ?>
And insert the shipping_estimator code immediately after:
<?php echo TEXT_INFORMATION; ?>
<?php require(DIR_WS_MODULES . 'shipping_estimator.php'); ?>
This inserts the shipping_estimator into your new page. Modify the components of it as needed... I took out the totals, and I also took out the select links, so mine just gives a quote. It took some code searching to find and take out those table cells, but I managed it.
4) Open up the shipping_estimator.php and find this code:
$ShipTxt= tep_draw_form('estimator', tep_href_link(FILENAME_ ... )
(I think that the default is FILENAME_SHOPPING_CART)
Now change that to the filename of your new page... the same that you chose in your #2 steps for creating a new page... in my example, FILENAME_SHIPPING_ESTIMATE.
5) Open up includes/boxes/shopping_cart.php and look for this bit of code near the bottom:
'text' => $currencies->format($cart->show_total()));
}
Now replace it with this:
'text' => 'Sub-Total: ' . $currencies->format($cart->show_total()) );
// adding links for Estimate Shipping, View/Edit Cart, & Checkout
$info_box_contents[] = array('text' => tep_draw_separator());
$info_box_contents[] = array('align' => 'right',
'text' => '<img src="../c/images/left_arrow.gif" width="12" height="12" border="0"><a href="' . tep_href_link(FILENAME_SHIPPING_ESTIMATE, '', 'NONSSL') . '">' . BOX_SHIPPING_ESTIMATE . '</a>'
. '<br><img src="../c/images/left_arrow.gif" width="12" height="12" border="0"><a href="' . tep_href_link(FILENAME_SHOPPING_CART, '', 'NONSSL') . '">' . HEADER_TITLE_CART_CONTENTS . '</a>'
. '<br><img src="../c/images/left_arrow.gif" width="12" height="12" border="0"><a href="' . tep_href_link(FILENAME_CHECKOUT_SHIPPING, '', 'NONSSL') . '">' . HEADER_TITLE_CHECKOUT . '</a>'
);
}
This adds another line under the Subtotal, and then adds my three links, Estimate Shipping, View/Edit Cart, & Checkout along with my little arrow gif. Feel free to download it and use it if you want... if not, take it out of the code. The image is here if you want to download it and upload it to your images directory:
my little arrow All three only appear when there are items in the shopping cart. If you only want the Estimate Shipping link, then just delete the code for the other two... they're divided up into their three sections. above.
6 - Open up logoff.php and add this code... I added it near the top with the other defines:
// added to fix ship in cart oscsid problem...
tep_session_unregister('cart_address_id');
Hope this helps someone!