Adding dynamic variables

Question

I remember reading somewhere how you can add variables building on the fly but can't find any references. What I have is a MovieClip in my library. I will use it to create several Menu Items.
This is what I have written:
LessonButton = new mcLessonBtn();
LessonButton.name = "menuLesson"+i;
this.addChild(LessonButton);
Thanks

Answer 1

I would guess that you are creating as many of them as you expect but you are only seeing the last because they sit atop one another.  Try adding something like the third line I show in the loop below and you should see them all.
There are probably a few ways to approach this, so here's one.  Declaring the var outside the function isn't going to help you get a handle on anything outside the loop except the last one created, so using the "name" property can work.  But in AS3, the name is just that, a property, it is not the instance name so you cannot target it that way... using the bracket notation won't work as you tried.  You need to use the getChildByName() method to be able to target an instance using its name property.
But when you create each LessonButton in that loop, you don't need any indirect reference because the one just created is directly accessible by that variable name (see the last line in the loop).
for(var i=0; i<LessonTitles.length; i++)
     var LessonButton:mcLessonBtn = new mcLessonBtn();
     LessonButton.name = "menuLesson"+i;
     LessonButton.x = i*100; // do this to see all you create (just to see them all)
     this.addChild(LessonButton);
     LessonButton.Lesson_txt.text = LessonTitles[i];
Another approach to this could be to store the instances in an array.  That way you can access them directly that way. Just as an example, the second loop is just as well done in the first...
var lessonBtns:Array = new Array();
for(var i=0; i<LessonTitles.length; i++)
     lessonBtns[i] = new mcLessonBtn();
     this.addChild(lessonBtns[i]);
// and to manipulate them later on...
for(var k=0; k<LessonTitles.length; k++)
     lessonBtns[k].x = k*100;
     lessonBtns[k].Lesson_txt.text = LessonTitles[k];