Changing dynamic text colors ??

Question

In Flash 8, the dynamic text field instance name is
energyLevel, as is the variable name associated with it. This
field's text color was originally set to gold (outside of
ActionScript). In the code, I'm trying to change it to red (without
a condition at this point, just to see if it will work).
In the code prior to the init function:
energyLevel = 10;
I've tried Option 1: >>>>>>>>>>
newTextStyle = new TextFormat();
newTextStyle.color = "0xFF0000";
actor.onEnterFrame = function() {
energyLevel.setTextFormat(newTextStyle);
I've tried Option 2:
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
actor.onEnterFrame = function() {
energyLevel.textColor = 0xFF0000;
And, I've tried Option 3:
>>>>>>>>>>>>
actor.onEnterFrame = function() {
_root.energyLevel.textColor = 0xFF0000;
BUT, none work. This should be easy to do. Can anyone tell me
what is wrong??
Thanks!

Answer 1

not exactly, read:
HERE
What if you are tracking a value that you don't want to
display at the time, or want use it in other calculations. Also
there are a few other ways to enter what you've got there, as in:
amountLeftField.text -= AmountFraction*.332;
amountLeftField.text *=.332;
amountLeftField.text /=1.332;
OR how about ...
a_txt.text -= f*.332;
Flash recognizes operations on a numerical value entry,
performs the calc, and still displays as a String.
Additionally, if you use the underscore with an extention
name for instance naming as in 'my_txt', Flash will recognize the
extention and bring up a list of methods, properties and event
handlers related to the data type when you type 'dot' after, if you
have the 'code hints' preference turned on. Same with _mc, _btn,
_ldr, _ti, _cb, ... etc. good for learning, and as you type the
next few characters of the prop, the list will highlight the prop,
and you can hit 'enter' to complete the rest, handy.
I'm not certain, but I believe that the TextField Var
property has been eliminated entirely in AS3. (?)