[FX.php List] Problem with embedding a PHP site inside a frame

[Bob Patin]

I've got a big site that I've just finished, which my client sells by  
subscription to car dealers. The dealers all would prefer to "embed"  
this site inside a frame on their site, rather than just linking to  
this site.

When they do this, either inside a Flash page or a non-Flash page  
that uses frames, I'm seeing that the cookie that needs to be written  
is not being written. As a result, the site's inaccessible.

My theory has been that, because they're embedding my client's site  
inside a frame, the PHP isn't loading first, and that's why the  
cookie isn't being written.

Is this accurate? Is there any way that I can alter my page so that  
the cookies are written properly, no matter whether my pages are  
embedded in a parent page or not?

So far, I've been recommending that my client tell car dealers not to  
use frames, but to instead load my client's site in a new fresh page,  
thus ensuring that cookies get written properly.

Here's a 2nd theory: my client's site is only accessible when the  
visitor arrives using a link from a "subscriber" site. The subscriber  
puts a link on his site, which sends him to my client's site; at the  
client site, the referer domain name is checked against a database of  
subscribers, and access is either granted or denied. At this point a  
cookie is written which gives subsequent access for the rest of the  
pages.

Is it possible that, by embedding the client's site, this referer  
data isn't retrieved properly? This too would cause the error, since  
the domain name wouldn't be verified and approved.

For any who are interested, I'm quite proud of this site; a demo of  
it is available at http://parrotmotors.advantastar.com. It's all  
FX.php and a FM 8 database. The database references a directory of  
pages which are loaded to display the appropriate data, depending on  
the cars selected...

Thanks for any insights,

Bob Patin
Longterm Solutions
bob at longtermsolutions.com
615-333-6858
http://www.longtermsolutions.com

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