Instantiating a custom class through a string

Question

I asked yesterday how to call a function from an XML file, and I figured out how to make that work using the string-to-function call.
so in my XML file I have <ITEM CALLBACK="ContactsList">View All</ITEM>, and my TextMenu class parses the XML file and creates my navigatable text menu instance. When enterMenu():String is called, it looks to see if the CALLBACK attribute has a value, and if so it returns it as a String.
so...
var callbackFnc:String = textMenu.enterMenu();
if(callbackFnc != null)
     //here's where my problem is
     var myClass:* = new [callbackFnc]();
I want to create a new instance of the ContactsList class through my XML file by having CALLBACK="ContactsList" and then using the string "ContactsList" to instantiate this object and add it to the the display list (it extends Sprite).
The code above currently invokes:
TypeError: Error #1007: Instantiation attempted on a non-constructor.
    at com.cox::Contacts/::keyHandler()
How could I use a string of the class name to instantiate and add an instance of that class to the stage?

Answer 1

To create a class by is string name use this:
var ClassReference : Class = getDefinitionByName( "STRING NAME OF THE CLASS" ) as Class;
    classInstance = new ClassReference();
in your case:
var ClassReference : Class = getDefinitionByName( "ContactsList" ) as Class
var contactList: *   = new ClassReference();