OK. I have installed Oscommerce and STS 4 locally, using XAMPP as a test server. I've created an HTML file which is being used as the template, featuring a graphical banner at the top of the page with four graphical buttons to its left for navigation of 'my account', 'new products', 'contact us', and 'view cart,. Lower down on the left is the categories menu. Working in dreamweaver, I've linked each button to its respective PHP file, but its here that I think I am missing something.
When it came to testing the site, I noticed that navigating using the categories box held a session id to maintain items in the shopping cart, whereas navigating using my buttons seems to somehow loose the session id. I had a quick scout around on the knowledge base with reference to session id's, but all I came up with is code for use within a PHP file, which is seemingly no use for an HTML STS template. I've read that using the 'force cookies' option would help with my situation, but that it would be of no use as I am planning on using a shared SSL certificate.
What do I need to do to give my buttons the ability to carry the needed session id? And if I may run without being able to walk, what would I need to do in order to implement a flash menu in place of my created buttons?
Thanks in advance for any help.
p.s. If it turns out that I'm just being dense, I humbly promise to ascend a snowcapped mountain and lash myself senseless with a gnarled sappling -completely naked - and post the resulting footage on google video.