Events, Variables and Input Text

Question

Hi,
I'm not new to Flash or AS3 but I've never really made anything too complex. I'm making a Flash game and getting to know Variables for the first time. The tutorials online confuse me because they're mostly geared towards AS2 and I bought this book (which is awesome) Game Design with Flash, but it only covers variables involving numbers and a guessing game.
All I want right now is a field to enter your name and below, whatever the user has entered, will show up in a Dynamic text field that will go, "Oh, so your name is (whatever)?" I understand that the information that the user types into the Input Text Field has to be entered in somehow, so do I need to make a function to make it work with a button? Right now I can type in the Input but nothing shows up in the Dynamic text field.
I borrowed an AS3 example from elsewhere on this forum and added my own Instance names. I also wanted to know, how can I call up the user's name throughout the game? Just calling that same variable up?
Here is what I have:
stop();
var myName:String;
myName = userName.text;
confirm_txt.text = "So your name is "+ myName;
I get no errors but the Dynamic text box isn't showing what I'm typing... How do I go about "entering" the name so it shows up and I can call it up anytime throughout the game?
Thank you so much in advance for any help offered!

Answer 1

"It sounds like the same concept of a class, so if a class is a pot, everything in it can be what pertains to the pot."
Well, there one important thing you need to keep in mind when dealing with Flash. There are classes and display lists. Classes have properties and methods and display lists have children.
For example,
var myClip:MovieClip = new MovieClip();
var mySprite:Sprite = new Sprite();
myClip.addChild(mySprite);
Now, this is important:
you can
trace(myClip.x) - because is x a documented property of MovieClip class
BUT
you cannot
trace(myClip.mySprite) because although mySprite is a child of myClip, IT IS NOT A PROPERTY of myClip as it is not a property of MovieClip class.
In other words, display list of a DisplayObjectContainer is sort of independent property/feature that doesn't fall into conventional realm of class capabilties. This special feature is addressed and children are manipulated in a special, peculiar to Flash manner only.
Using pot analogy, display list is a space where you can put DisplayObjects. Objects that are put into this space do not belong to the instnace but just temporarily occupy it.
Here is a little game (let's name it "move vegies between pots") that may help you to get feel of parent/child relationships. Click on vegies and observe how they behave relative to their parents:
import flash.display.Graphics;
import flash.display.MovieClip;
import flash.display.Sprite;
import flash.events.MouseEvent;
import flash.text.TextField;
var apple:MovieClip = vegie("apple");
var beet:MovieClip = vegie("beet");
var onion:MovieClip = vegie("onion");
var pear:MovieClip = vegie("pear");
var bigPot:Sprite = makePot(250, 250);
var mediumPot:Sprite = makePot(200, 200);
var smallPot:Sprite = makePot(150, 150);
addChild(bigPot);
addChild(mediumPot);
addChild(smallPot);
bigPot.x = 20;
bigPot.y = 20;
mediumPot.x = bigPot.x + bigPot.width + 50;
mediumPot.y = bigPot.y + bigPot.height - mediumPot.height;
smallPot.x = mediumPot.x + mediumPot.width + 50;
smallPot.y = bigPot.y + bigPot.height - smallPot.height;
var vegies:Array = [apple, beet, onion, pear];
var pots:Array = [bigPot, mediumPot, smallPot];
putVegies();
* Places vegies into big pot
function putVegies():void {
     for each(var veg:MovieClip in  vegies) {
          bigPot.addChild(veg);
          // bigPot has index 0 in pots Array
          veg.parentIndex = 0;
          veg.mouseChildren = false;
          veg.buttonMode = veg.useHandCursor = true;
          veg.x = veg.width + Math.random() * (bigPot.width - veg.width * 3);
          veg.y = veg.height + Math.random() * (bigPot.height - veg.height * 3);
          veg.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, onClick);
* listener to clicking on vegies
* chooses a new random parent
* @param     e
function onClick(e:MouseEvent):void {
     var target:MovieClip = e.currentTarget as MovieClip;
     // new parent random index
     var parentIndex:int = Math.round(Math.random() * (pots.length - 1));
     var newParent:Sprite = pots[parentIndex];
     newParent.addChild(target);
     target.x = target.width + Math.random() * (newParent.width - target.width * 3);
     target.y = target.height + Math.random() * (newParent.height - target.height * 3);
* Makes vegie
* @param     text - vegie label
* @return
function vegie(text:String):MovieClip {
     var label:TextField = new TextField();
     label.autoSize = "left";
     label.text = text;
     label.x = - label.width / 2;
     label.y = - label.height / 2;
     var s:MovieClip = new MovieClip();
     var g:Graphics = s.graphics;
     g.beginFill(0xffffff * Math.random());
     g.drawCircle(0, 0, (label.width / 2) + 5);
     g.endFill();
     s.addChild(label);
     return s;
* Draws pot outline
* @param     w
* @param     h
* @return
function makePot(w:Number, h:Number):Sprite {
     var edge:Number = 10;
     var s:Sprite = new Sprite();
     var g:Graphics = s.graphics;
     g.lineStyle(2, 0x000000);
     g.moveTo(0, 0);
     g.lineTo(w, 0);
     g.lineTo(w - edge, edge);
     g.lineTo(w - edge, h - edge);
     g.curveTo(w - edge, h, w - edge * 2, h);
     g.lineTo(edge * 2, h);
     g.curveTo(edge, h, edge, h - edge );
     g.lineTo(edge, edge);
     g.lineTo(0, 0);
     return s;