Off-Forum Check if User is Logged In? PLEASE HELP!!!

I really need to know something...

My forums are in the /forums directory of my website.
When a visitor visits my index.php (the first page of my website), which is NOT inside the /forums directory, how can I make it check IF the user is logged into my forums?

I need a way to check the cookies or something.

IF the user is online{
echo "you are logged in (username of member)";
}
else
echo "You are not logged in!";

how can I do that? PLEASE, I really need this help!
Please give me a full, hopefully working code!

[www.phorum.org]

And make sure to set the cookie path setting in the general settings of Phorum to "/", so the cookie will be returned at that level by your browser. I think it's Phorum's default to use "/", so you're probably okay there.

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Maurice Makaay
Phorum Development Team
my blog linkedin profile secret sauce