Access of undefined method/property through reference with a static type Class

Question

I get the following error: (it's not word for word but you get the idea)
Error: Access of undefined method getStatus through reference with a static type Class.
Here's what's happening in the code. I'm trying to create a User class that is instantiated at the start of my app. I want the User class to have properties like mainStatus, with helper methods like setStatus etc. Pretty simple.
so on my HardDisk I have my flash_working folder with all my flash projects. I created my class file/package under the directory com.mypackage
package com.mypackage
    import flash.display.*;
    public class User extends Sprite
        public var mainStatus:int;
        public function User()
            trace("User Created!");
            mainStatus = 0;
        public function setStatus(status:int):void
         mainStatus = status;
    public function getStatus():int
        return mainStatus;
Ok, so far so good.
now I created a new .fla file under the root of /flash_working/. The class file is in /com/mypackage/User.as
in my .fla file I have:
import com.mypackage.User;
var myUser:User = new User();
var i = User.getStatus();
trace(i);
That's all the code I have. Could someone please explain why it's giving me that error?
If I try to access the public var mainStatus through user.mainStatus that gives a similar error saying:
Error: Access of undefined property mainStatus through reference with a static type Class.
Thanks for any help!
jef3189

Answer 1

the public getStatus() function that you created needs to be referred to through an instance of the class.
So:
import com.mypackage.User;
var myUser:User = new User();
var i = myUser.getStatus();
trace(i);
Also, an aside. You can create a getter/setter for status, to avoid having to do the function as such.
package com.mypackage
    import flash.display.*;
    public class User extends Sprite
        public var mainStatus:int;
        public function get status():int
            return mainStatus;
        public function set status(value:int):void
             mainStatus = value as int;
          public function User()
            trace("User Created!");
            mainStatus = 0;
And then, you can call it as:
import com.mypackage.User;
var myUser:User = new User();
trace(myUser.status);
EDIT
I just noticed that you made the variable public as well, which means you can access it without getter/setter or function.
import com.mypackage.User;
var myUser:User = new User();
trace(myUser.mainStatus);