Problem calling AS3 class's methods from Flex Project

Question

Sorry if this is a stupid question, but after 2 days of Web
searching and 2 books give up; I am a Java and c# programmer and am
having problems calling AS3 classes (in packages) from Flex Builder
2 Flex Projects; the AS3 classes work great as Flex Builder "AS3
Projects", but when I try to use the classes in a Flex Builder
"Flex Project" I am able to see and set their properties, but
cannot see (through "code completion") their methods (unless the
class extends another AS3 class; and in that case I can see the
base class's methods). Here is the code:
AS3 Example Class:
package asText {
public class CheckWord {
public var strData:String;
public var strAProperty:String;
public var intAProperty:int;
// Constructor
public function CheckWord() {
public function TestMethod():void {
trace("test...");
public function WordLength():int {
var intLength:int = 0;
trace(strData);
intLength = strData.length;
return intLength;
} // From Method WordLength
} // From Class CheckWord
} // From Package asText
The MXML code:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<mx:Application xmlns:mx="
http://www.adobe.com/2006/mxml"
layout="absolute"
width="442" height="488" horizontalAlign="center"
verticalAlign="middle"
backgroundGradientColors="[#c0c0c0, #c0c0c0]"
xmlns:asTheText="asText.*"
>
<asTheText:CheckWord strData="Test words" />
<mx:Panel title="Welcome to ........" width="337"
height="393" horizontalAlign="center" verticalAlign="middle"
layout="absolute" y="15" x="50">
<mx:Text text="First Name" enabled="true" width="68"
fontWeight="bold" x="27.25" y="36"/>
<mx:TextInput id="txtFName" x="112.25" y="34"/>
<mx:Text text="Last Name" enabled="true" width="68"
fontWeight="bold" x="27.25" y="66"/>
<mx:TextInput x="112.25" y="64" id="txtLName"/>
<mx:Text text="email address" enabled="true" width="87"
fontWeight="bold" x="17.25" y="96"/>
<mx:TextInput width="189" id="txtEmail" left="112.25"
top="94"/>
<mx:Button id="butSubmit" label="Submit" x="95" y="194"
click="asTheText:TestMethod();"/>
..............and so on ............
All this does is give me an 1180 error:
1180: Call to a possibly undefined method TestMethod.
flexConveyMovie1.mxml

Answer 1

Thanks, I have it working; I was not assigning an "ID" to the
"MXML use of the class" (whatever the formal name for that is;
like: <asTheText:CheckWord id="MyText" strData="The Data" />
) and then I was not referencing that ID in what I am refering to
as calling methods for the Class; like:
<mx:Button id="butTest" label="Test Function" x="39"
y="208" click="MyText.TestMethod();"/>
Also, I did some tests on this, and I am shocked that
apparently neither of these two "uses"(?) of a custom AS3 class
actually "call" the Class's constructor. Does that make sense or is
that the result of how I am structuring this?
Phil