AS3 Projectile moves incorrectly - actionscript-3

Question

So I'm currently attempting to make a prototype for a Bullet Hell game and I've run into a bit of a dead end.
So far I can move my player perfectly, the boss moves back and forth as he is supposed to, however the projectiles have some funny behaviour. Basically, when the boss moves left/right, so do the projectiles as if they are stuck to him. They move on the y as they are supposed to, except they stop just short of the player and move no further, so I'm hoping anyone can take a look at my code and give me a hand with what's going on.
Note: Ignore the rotation stuff, that's for later implementation, I was just laying the ground work.
Projectile.as
package
{
import flash.display.Stage;
import flash.display.MovieClip;
import flash.events.Event;
public class Projectile extends MovieClip
{
private var stageRef:Stage;
private var _xVel:Number = 0;
private var _yVel:Number = 0;
private var rotationInRadians = 0;
private const SPEED:Number = 10;
public function Projectile(stageRef:Stage, x:Number, y:Number, rotationInDegrees:Number)
{
this.stageRef = stageRef;
this.x = x;
this.y = y;
this.rotation = rotationInDegrees;
this.rotationInRadians = rotationInDegrees * Math.PI / 180;
}
public function update():void
{
this.y += SPEED;;
if(x > stageRef.stageWidth || x < 0 || y > stageRef.stageHeight || y < 0)
{
//this.removeChild(this); <- Causing a crash, will fix later
}
}
}
}
Boss.as
package
{
import flash.display.MovieClip;
import flash.display.Stage;
import flash.events.Event;
import flash.utils.Timer;
import flash.events.TimerEvent;
public class Boss extends MovieClip
{
private var stageRef:Stage;
private var _vx:Number = 3;
private var _vy:Number = 3;
private var fireTimer:Timer;
private var canFire:Boolean = true;
private var projectile:Projectile;
public var projectileList:Array = [];
public function Boss(stageRef:Stage, X:int, Y:int)
{
this.stageRef = stageRef;
this.x = X;
this.y = Y;
fireTimer = new Timer(300, 1);
fireTimer.addEventListener(TimerEvent.TIMER, fireTimerHandler, false, 0, true);
}
public function update():void
{
this.x += _vx;
if(this.x <= 100 || this.x >= 700)
{
_vx *= -1;
}
fireProjectile();
projectile.update();
}
public function fireProjectile():void
{
if(canFire)
{
projectile = new Projectile(stageRef, this.x / 200 + this._vx, this.y, 90);
addChild(projectile);
canFire = false;
fireTimer.start();
}
}
private function fireTimerHandler(event:TimerEvent) : void
{
canFire = true;
}
}
}
Edit: Current suggestions have been to do the following:
stage.addChild(projectile); and this.parent.addChild(projectile); both which have the projectile firing from the top left corner (0, 0) and not constantly firing from the current center of the Boss.
The other issue, which has been untouched, is the fast that the projectile stops moving after a certain point and remains on the screen.
Another Edit:
After commenting out the code with the timer I have found that the projectile stops moving entirely. The reason why it was stopping after a certain amount of time was due to the timer, when the timer elapsed the projectile stopped and another would fire.
So now I need the projectile to constantly fire and move until it hits the edge of the screen, any ideas?

Answer 1

The problem is you are 'addChild'ing your projectiles to your Boss as opposed the stage (or the same display level as your Boss). When your Boss moves, your projectiles will move relative to him (ie, when he moves sideways, so will they).
When your boss fires a projectile, use a custom event to trigger a fireProjectile method in the Class that is your Boss' display parent. Instantiate your projectiles there and addChild them to the same object to which you addChild your Boss (possibly the stage?).
Alternatively, if you don't want to use a custom event, in your current fireProjectile method change the addChild line to:
this.parent.addChild(projectile);
This will add projectiles to the parent object of your Boss. Although that line seems, slightly, like cheating to me.