Refreshing every XX seconds - actionscript-3

Question

I am new to actionscript and flash, but i managed to make code that gets data from php file and refresh result every 30 seconds:
var timerRefreshRate:Number = 30000;
var fatherTime:Timer = new Timer(timerRefreshRate, 0);
fatherTime.addEventListener(TimerEvent.TIMER, testaa);
fatherTime.start();
function testaa(event:Event):void{
var loader:URLLoader = new URLLoader();
loader.dataFormat = URLLoaderDataFormat.VARIABLES;
loader.addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE,varsLoaded);
loader.load(new URLRequest("data.php"));
function varsLoaded (event:Event):void {
this.opaqueBackground = loader.data.color;
title.text=loader.data.title;
banner_text.text=loader.data.text;
}
}
But now i am facing 2 problems:
1.) User must wait 30 seconds for movie to load first time
2.) Setting background color does not work any more.
What am i doing wrong?

Answer 1

You can call your function once to load immediately without waiting 30 seconds. Just change the parameters of the function to default to a null event:
function testaa(event:Event = null):void{
//...
}
Now you can call the function like so:
//...
fatherTime.start();
testaa();
So you start the timer but immediately run the function once.
For your second problem, the issue is most likely that you are using a nested function, so this does not refer to your class but rather the testaa function. Nested functions are bad practice in general and you should avoid them if possible. Move the function and loader reference outside and it should work. Final result should be something like this:
var loader:URLLoader;
var timerRefreshRate:Number = 30000;
var fatherTime:Timer = new Timer(timerRefreshRate, 0);
fatherTime.addEventListener(TimerEvent.TIMER, testaa);
fatherTime.start();
testaa();
function testaa(event:Event = null):void{
loader = new URLLoader();
loader.dataFormat = URLLoaderDataFormat.VARIABLES;
loader.addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE,varsLoaded);
loader.load(new URLRequest("data.php"));
}
function varsLoaded (event:Event):void {
this.opaqueBackground = loader.data.color;
title.text=loader.data.title;
banner_text.text=loader.data.text;
}