_global variable lost outside of function?

Question

Vexing riddle: why are my global variables undefined outside
of the functions that use them?
Loading XML file and creating arrays from the child nodes.
Like this:
var modules:Array = this.firstChild.childNodes;
_global.moduleContents = new Array();
for (var i = 0; i<modules.length; i++) {
_global.moduleContents.push(modules
.attributes.contents);
then I have another function that recursively extracts each
index from _global.moduleContents array and pushes them into a
_global. pageContents array. (see attached code)
I made sure to use _global. in front of all global variables.
The code workd flawlessly in itself. I am able to trace the whole
array or single array indices from within the functions.
But they are undefined outside of the functions! I checked to
make sure there is no local variable of the same names - in every
case I use _global before the variable name.
The crazy part of it is I tried testing some simple functions
with global variables in a new movie to understand the scope issues
and they worked fine!
function messages() {
_global.greetings = ["hello", "hi", "how are you?"];
function sayHi() {
_global.greetings.push("how goes it?");
sayHi();
messages();
trace("this is outside: "+_global.greetings);
Why not in this:

Answer 1

Gotcha, what is happening is that you call a loading script
that basically works in the background of other scripting
operations, you can call multiple load actions and they will all
execute at the same time, because you have your trace call after
the load action and you are not waiting for that file to be loaded
you are getting an 'undefined' var.
You may want to put something in at the end of all of your if
(success) statements like
_global.docstructureLoaded = true;
checkLoadStatus();
then say this on your next load function;
_global.pageContentsLoaded =true;
checkLoadStatus();
then in your root area
checkLoadStatus(){
if(_global.pageContentsLoaded==true && .... ){
//when all your loads are done do this ...
Just to make sure that you arn't calling any other functions,
or moving your timeline ahead before your data gets to the right
place.