AddChild Controls not Found!

Question

Hi,
When I add a control to a container at runtime using
addChild, it shows up on the screen. However, if I subsequently try
to access the control using getChildByName or through the parent's
property array, Flex can't seem to find it. Both methods work for
accessing child controls added at design time. The following code
generates a runtime error " testText not found on testapp and there
is no default value."
<mx:Script>
<![CDATA[
import mx.controls.Text;
import mx.controls.Alert;
public function init():void {
var newField:Text = new Text()
newField.text = "hello";
newField.id = "testText";
this.addChild(newField);
Alert.show(this["testText"].text);
]]>
</mx:Script>

Answer 1

FYI, Adobe advises against depending on getChildByName.
The suggested way to handle this situation is to maintain a
list of references to components you instantiate with addChild.
Something like this
private var _oChildArray:Object = new Object;
//instance/global var
var newChild:UIComponent = new UIComponent;
var sId:String = "someid";
newChild.id = sId;
oChildArray[sId] = newChild;
myContainer.addChild(newChild)
then later, access the component:
var myComponent:UIComponent = oChildArray["someid"]
Tracy