Component life cycle doesn't apply to objects created w/in ActionScript block??

Question

i don't understand why init() is never called. typically one can initialize variables in the constructor, but since this is mxml, the constructor is automatically created for us and the programmer seems to have no access or override privileges. so what to do?? am i failing to grasp some aspect of the component life cycle process?? how should i go about initializing properties??
--------------------------- Main.mxml -----------------------------
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<s:Application xmlns:fx="http://ns.adobe.com/mxml/2009"
         xmlns:s="library://ns.adobe.com/flex/spark"
         xmlns:mx="library://ns.adobe.com/flex/halo">
  <fx:Script>
    <![CDATA[
      import components.MyComp;
      [Bindable] private var myComp:MyComp = new MyComp();
    ]]>
  </fx:Script>
  <s:Label text="{myComp.myString}"
       horizontalCenter="0" verticalCenter="0"/>
</s:Application>
------------------------ components/MyComp.mxml ---------------------------------------
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<s:Group xmlns:fx="http://ns.adobe.com/mxml/2009"
     xmlns:s="library://ns.adobe.com/flex/spark"
     xmlns:mx="library://ns.adobe.com/flex/halo"
     initialize="init()">
  <fx:Script>
    <![CDATA[
      [Bindable] public var myString:String = "hello, world!";
      private function init():void {
        myString = "hello, cruel world!";
    ]]>
  </fx:Script>
</s:Group>
NOTE: the code above might seem a little ridiculous, but that's b/c i reduced it down. imagine a baseComponent and derivedComponent where the myString has a default value in the base case and needs to be overridden in the derived case. appreciate any insights and thanks,
- e

Answer 1

Thanks Corey and Mike
I suppose I should have been more aware about when the initialize event gets dispatched -- the concept just wasn't registering for me and I was totally miffed about how to initialize variables on construction.
Do you have to initialize before the instance is added to the display list?
Yes, I was mixing both mxml and AS classes and the derived classes had no display objects to attach to the stage (they were mostly classes made to modify run time behavior). You can check out my previous post, which gives the code for where or why this might be needed.
I ended up initializing mxml class variables during construction in the following way:
------------------------------ classes/BaseClass.as ------------------------------
package classes
  public class BaseClass
    public var myString:String = "hello, world";
    public function BaseClass() {
      init();
    protected function init():void {
      // intentionally left empty 
------------------------------ classes/DerivedClassI.mxml ------------------------------
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<classes:BaseClass xmlns:fx="http://ns.adobe.com/mxml/2009"
         xmlns:s="library://ns.adobe.com/flex/spark"
         xmlns:mx="library://ns.adobe.com/flex/halo"
         xmlns:classes="classes.*"
         myString="hello, cruel world!">
</classes:BaseClass>
------------------------------ classes/DerivedClassII.mxml ------------------------------
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<classes:BaseClass xmlns:fx="http://ns.adobe.com/mxml/2009"
           xmlns:s="library://ns.adobe.com/flex/spark"
           xmlns:mx="library://ns.adobe.com/flex/halo"
           xmlns:classes="classes.*">
  <fx:Script>
    <![CDATA[
      override protected function init() : void {
        myString = "hello, cruel cruel world!";
    ]]>
  </fx:Script>
</classes:BaseClass>
------------------------------- Main.mxml ------------------------------
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<s:Application xmlns:fx="http://ns.adobe.com/mxml/2009"
         xmlns:s="library://ns.adobe.com/flex/spark"
         xmlns:mx="library://ns.adobe.com/flex/halo">
  <fx:Script>
    <![CDATA[
      import classes.*;
      import mx.collections.ArrayCollection;
      [Bindable] private var list:ArrayCollection = new ArrayCollection( [
        new BaseClass(),
        new DerivedClassI(),
        new DerivedClassII(),
    ]]>
  </fx:Script>
  <s:List dataProvider="{list}" labelField="myString" />
</s:Application>
- e