Calling a Function in the Parent Window from the Child Window

Question

QUESTION: How do I call a function resident in the parent
window from a child window?
BACKGROUND
I have a JavaScript function resident in the parent window
that reformats information obtained from the Date object and writes
the result to the parent window using the document.write( ) method.
I would like to call this function from the child window and have
it write to the child window instead. Is this possible? If not,
must I rewrite the entire function and nest it in the below code?
If so, what is the proper form of nesting?
CODE: The code that creates and fills the child window is
provided below. The highlighted area indicates where I would like
to enter the information from the function resident in the parent
window. I have tried every imaginable permutation of code that I
can imagine and nearly destroyed my parent document in the process.
I am very happy that I had a back-up copy!
function openCitationWindow() {
ciDow = window.open("", "", "width=450, height=175, top=300,
left=300");
ciDow.document.write("A proper way to cite a passage of text
on this page:<br /><br />Stegemann, R. A. 2000.
<cite>Imagine: Bridging a Historical Gap</cite>. " +
document.title + ". [<a href='" + location.href + "'
target='_blank'>online book</a>] &lt;" + location.href
+ "&gt; (");
MISSING CODE;
ciDow.document.write(").<br /><br /><input
type='button' value='Close Window' onclick='window.close()'>");
ciDow.focus();

Answer 1

Never mind - I was doing something very stupid and wasn't
calling the function as a method of a movie clip. I was simply
calling checkTarget(event) rather than
event.currentTarget.checkTarget(event); which seems to work.