Problem with accessing dynamically created movie clips, returns null...

Question

Hopefully this is a stupid question with an easy answer, if my code is straight forward enough.
I am using this snippet of code to create menu items, and then use the jCount variable below to give the clips an index number, like so (which seems to be working just fine):
for(var j:Number=0;j<xmlSubMenuLength;j++){ 
    var mcSubMenuItem:mcSubMenu=new mcSubMenu();   
    addChild(mcSubMenuItem);    
    jCount++;   
    mcSubMenuItem.name = "mcSubMenuItem" + jCount;
    //traces out names correctly
    trace ("---------------------------------jCount NAME = "+ mcSubMenuItem.name);
    mcSubMenuItem.x=mcMenuHolder.x+20;
    mcSubMenuItem.y =mcMenuHolder.y;
    mcSubMenuItem.y+= nextBtnY;
    nextBtnY+=subtopicSpace;
    global_subi.text = String(jCount); //i see the proper count of 10 in the text field
However, when I try to access the clips using this snippet:  
for(var j:Number=0;j<Number(global_subi.text);j++)//
  trace("GLOBAL SUBI = "+ String(global_subi.text));  //traces out 10, which it should
  var scSubMenuItem:String = "mcSubMenuItem" + j;  
  var scSubContent:Object = this.getChildByName(scSubMenuItem);
  trace(">>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>scSubContent:Object = "+ scSubContent); //returns null!
My last trace statement returns null. Can anyone see my error, or explain why I can't access my clips after they have been created?
Thank you muchly,
~Chipleh

Answer 1

Hi kglad,
Thanks for the response.
"it's not clear from the shown code that jCount is initialized." - I've posted the relevant code below, which shows that I'm initializing jCount.
"and it's not clear why you don't use j instead of jCount in that for-loop" - j is used as loop for creating the subtopic movie clips within the i for-loop. So, for each topic in i for-loop, create a group of suptopics using the j for-loop. The j for-loop re-initiates j every time the length of the subtopics is reached(if that makes any sense) - i.e. topic1>subtopic 1,2,3,4 : topic2>subtopic>1,2 : topic3>subtopic1,2,3,4
jCount is used to keep a running count of the total number of subtopcs created - i.e. per the example above, jCount will display 10.
var topicSpace:uint=button_mc.height;
var subtopicSpace:uint = button_mc.height;
var nextBtnY:uint = 0;//whatever;
var jCount:Number = 0;
function createXMLMenu(menuLength:Number,itemName:XMLList):void{
     var navItemText:XMLList = itemName;
      for(var i:Number=0;i<menuLength;i++)
           var mcMenuItem:mcMenu=new mcMenu();        
           addChild(mcMenuItem); 
           mcMenuItem.btnTxt.htmlText = i+1 +". " +navItemText[i];  
           mcMenuItem.ivar = i;  
           mcMenuItem.name = "mcMenuItem" + i;  
           mcMenuItem.x=mcMenuHolder.x;
           mcMenuItem.y =mcMenuHolder.y;
          //kglad's addition
           mcMenuItem.y+= nextBtnY;
           nextBtnY+=topicSpace; 
           var subVar:Number = i;//mcMenuItem.ivar 
           //Submenu content
           var xmlSubMenuLength:Number = xml.sim.bodyText.page[i].subpage.length()
           var menuItemAttachment:MovieClip = MovieClip(mcMenuItem); 
           for(var j:Number=0;j<xmlSubMenuLength;j++)
                 var xmlSubPageNumber:XMLList = xml.sim.bodyText.page[subVar].subpage;
                 var subNavLinkNumber:Number = xmlSubPageNumber[j];
                 var subTitleText:String = xml.sim.bodyText.page[subVar].subpage.subNavItem[j];
                 var mcSubMenuItem:mcSubMenu=new mcSubMenu();
                 trace("mcSubMenuItem.ivar = "+ j+1);
                 var mc2Attach2:MovieClip = MovieClip(menuItemAttachment);
                 mcSubMenuItem.btnTxt.htmlText = j+1 +". " +subTitleText;   
                 mcSubMenuItem.ivar = Number(subVar);
                 mcSubMenuItem.jvar = Number(j);
                 addChild(mcSubMenuItem);
                 jCount++;   
                 mcSubMenuItem.name = "mcSubMenuItem" + jCount;
                 trace ("---------------------------------jCount NAME = "+ mcSubMenuItem.name);
                 mcSubMenuItem.x=mcMenuHolder.x+20;
                 mcSubMenuItem.y =mcMenuHolder.y;
                 //kglad's addition
                 mcSubMenuItem.y+= nextBtnY;
                 nextBtnY+=subtopicSpace;    
                 global_subi.text = String(jCount);
            mcSubMenuItem.lExtend.visible = false;  
global_i.text = String(i);
Then I try to access the clips like so:
-The first for-loop access the topic movie clips, no problem, and traces out scContent correctly.
-The second for-loop traces out null everytime, when I would expect it to be tracing out the names of the subtopic movie clips.
function accessClips(){
     //This will access the topic movie clips
     for(var i:Number=0;i<Number(global_i.text);i++)
           var scMenuItem:String = "mcMenuItem" + i;
           var scContent:Object = this.getChildByName(scMenuItem);            
           trace(">>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>scContent:Object = "+ scContent);
     //This is supposed to access the subtopic movie clips
     for(var j:Number=0;j<Number(global_subi.text);j++)//
           var scSubMenuItem:String = "mcSubMenuItem" + j;
           var scSubContent:Object = this.getChildByName(scSubMenuItem);
           trace(">>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>scSubContent:Object = "+ scSubContent);
Hope this makes sense, Chipleh confused. If the code is not clear enough, let me know and I'll try to further clarify.
Thanks again,
~Chipleh