Adding ID to a new created object as3 - actionscript-3

Question

i got a question , i create a new child, a circle but i dont know how can i give it an ID, so i can access it whenever i want, even if i move it , the problem is my function new_sond creates more than 1 object, so i want to give them the ID in the function for example for the 1 object "1" for the 2nd "2" and so on, i dont have any idea how to do it, i tried to search but didnt find anything, the trace(name) won`t be usefull becouse i create more objects with the same name...
here is the code for creating the object :
function new_sond(event:MouseEvent):void
{
if (i<9)
{
i++;
id[i]=i;
var btn:Sprite = new Sprite();
btn.graphics.beginFill(0x0066FF, 1);
btn.graphics.drawCircle(400, 300, 25);
btn.graphics.endFill();
var textField = new TextField();
textField.mouseEnabled=false;
textField.text = i;
textField.width = 10;
textField.height = 17;
textField.x = 395; // center it horizontally
textField.y = 292; // center it vertically
cx[i]=textField.x;
cy[i]=textField.y;
btn.addChild(textField);
this.addChild(btn);
}
}
And this is the code for moving the object :
this.addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_DOWN, mouseDownH);
this.addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_UP, mouseUpH);
function mouseDownH(evt:MouseEvent):void {
var object = evt.target;
object.startDrag();
}
function mouseUpH(evt:MouseEvent):void {
var obj = evt.target;
obj.stopDrag();
}
The question is how do i give an ID to each created object so i can check it even if i move the object.
Thank you very much !!!!

Answer 1

You can set the name property on the Sprite class. This property is inherited from the DIsplayObject class. Here is a summary of the property from the documentation.
The property is a String and you set or retrieve it from its setter/getter implementations in DisplayObject:
public function get name():String
public function set name(value:String):void
This property is part of ActionScript 3.0 and is available in runtime versions starting with AIR 1.0, Flash Player 9, Flash Lite 4 (which means it is available in later version as well).
It can throw an IllegalOperationError though. This is thrown if you attempt to set the property on an object placed on the timeline via the Flash authoring tool.
Here is the example given in the DisplayObject#name property documentation. The example creates two Sprite objects and traces their names when they are clicked.
import flash.display.Sprite;
import flash.events.MouseEvent;
var circle1:Sprite = new Sprite();
circle1.graphics.beginFill(0xFF0000);
circle1.graphics.drawCircle(40, 40, 40);
circle1.name = "circle1";
addChild(circle1);
circle1.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, traceName);
var circle2:Sprite = new Sprite();
circle2.graphics.beginFill(0x0000FF);
circle2.graphics.drawCircle(140, 40, 40);
circle2.name = "circle2";
addChild(circle2);
circle2.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, traceName);
function traceName(event:MouseEvent):void {
trace(event.target.name);
}
If this does not work for you, you can always create your own class that is a sub-class of Sprite and add your own properties to track an "id" field for whatever purposes you seek.

Answer 2

Or you could put your objects in an array and rely on their array position as an Id.

Answer 3

I just stumbled on this question and thought it relevant to point out that AS3 also has a built-in utility for generating unique names for Objects
NameUtil.createUniqueName