AS3: Event Listener Not Firing - actionscript-3

Question

I am brand new to AS3/Flash and am learning about event handling. I have a "Bell" class which dispatches an event, and if I add an event listener to an instance of that Bell class, it works fine. That's not what I want, though. I've got another class, Pet, which I would like to have listening for the Bell. I see the trace from the bell, but not the one for the pet.
Here is the code for the Bell:
public class Bell extends EventDispatcher {
public static const BELL_RING:String = "bellRing";
public static const RING_INTERVAL:int = 1500;
private var ringIntervalID:int;
public function Bell()
{
ringIntervalID = setInterval(ringBell,RING_INTERVAL);
}
public function ringBell():void {
trace("RINGING THE BELL");
dispatchEvent(new Event(Bell.BELL_RING));
}
}
...and for the Pet:
public class VirtualPet {
private var senseOfHearing:EventDispatcher = new EventDispatcher();
public function Pet(name:String):void
{
senseOfHearing.addEventListener(Bell.BELL_RING,heardBell);
}
public function heardBell(e:Event):void {
trace("Pet hears bell ringing");
}
}
...and for the Main Class:
public class VirtualZoo extends Sprite
{
public function VirtualZoo()
{
var bell:Bell = new Bell();
var pet:VirtualPet = new VirtualPet('Stan');
}
}
Any help is much appreciated! Events are properly imported and there are no compiler errors.

Answer 1

There are a few ways to do this, this is the most straight-forward...
public function Pet(name:String, bell:Bell):void {
bell.addEventListener(Bell.BELL_RING, heardBell)
}
Then:
myBell = new Bell()
myPet = new Pet("dog", myBell)
Or...
if Bell is a child of Pet, then you can bubble the event up the DisplayList and capture it in Pet (but I doubt this is the case).
Or...
You can use a proxy class, like your senseOfHearing and pass that instance to both Bell and Dog and use it to dispatch events between the two.
EDIT
Based on your comment:
var bells:Array = [];
// add some bells
var pet:Pet = new Pet("Marvin", bells);
public function Pet(name:String, bells:Array):void {
for (var i:int = 0; i < bells.length; i++) {
bells[i].addEventListener(Bell.BELL_RING, heardBell);
}
}