[Zope] REQUEST.has_key does not find passed argument

[Santani Teng]

Hello,

I'm new to Zope, Python and DTML and could therefore use some help.
I have a page in which I want to pass an argument to a new DTML method 
when clicking a link. The relevant snippet is:

<a href="/contact?name_id:int=<dtml-var name_id>">Contact</a>

So, when you click on "Contact" you should get a new window. The 
variable "name_id" is previously established on the page and shows up 
correctly when the pointer hovers over the link, i.e. the status bar at 
the bottom of the browser reads:

http://server.website.edu/contact?name_id:int=3

However, the DTML code for the new page doesn't seem to find this value 
and returns a message telling me that no name was found. Because I am 
stuck, here is the virtual entirety of the code:

<dtml-if "not REQUEST.has_key('name_id')">
 No name was found. Please specify a name.
<dtml-else>
 Thank you! The request has been made.
</dtml-if>

How can I get this page to recognize the passed argument so I can call a 
method with it?

I have seen similar threads here on this topic but was unable to find a 
solution from reading them. I am also baffled by the fact that in large 
part I'm reusing the same code that seems to work perfectly in the same 
format on other pages (which I didn't write). This is probably something 
very simple, but I would really appreciate a hand.

Thanks in advance,

Santani