accessing GUI-created elements in a class definition file in AS3 (Flash CS4) - actionscript-3

Question

I've used the GUI to create a rectangle that I turned into a button symbol (SimpleButton). I then edited the button so that it had 4 different button states and a text layer on top. I then created a class definition file for this object so that I could dynamically change the label text (the text layer) when adding instances of this button to the stage.
I was able to create and link a class file (DynamicButton.as) just fine, but when I try to access the text field that I created on the button, I get the error:
"Access of possibly undefined property btnLabel through a reference with static type com.examples:DynamicButton."
when i couldn't get that to work, I decided I'd try adding the TextField directly within the class definition file, using the following code:
package com.examples
{
import flash.display.Sprite;
import flash.display.SimpleButton;
import flash.text.TextField;
public class DynamicButton extends SimpleButton
{
public function DynamicButton(btnText:String="Click Me")
{
placeText();
labelText.text = btnText;
}
//property variables
//create a text box to hold the button label
private var labelText:TextField = new TextField();
//create a displayObject to hold the text
private var labelSprite:Sprite = new Sprite();
private function placeText():void {
labelText.width = this.width;
labelText.height = this.height;
labelText.x = this.x;
labelText.y = this.y;
labelText.visible = true;
labelSprite.addChild(labelText);
this.parent.addChild(labelSprite);
}
}
}
The problem is that I can't seem to add the TextField to the SimpleButton, as it's not a display object. So, I tried adding it to the parent of the simple button (and I figured, I'd just place it exactly above the button). But then I get a "null object reference." error.
So, I have two questions
is there a way to access GUI-created elements from w/i a class definition file?
How would I add the TextField to the button using only AS3 inside of a my class definition file?

Answer 1

OK, it took a few days and some introspection, but it seems that the problem I've having stems from the fact that you cannot add children to a SimpleButton. I changed my class definition to extend a MovieClip, then created a function named "listen()" that I called when constructing the object that added listeners for the "over","down", and "out" mouse states, so as to imitate a simple button. I also had to put a "stop()" command in the constructor, so that each button wouldn't keep cyclying through all the states. The final class definition looks like this:
package com.examples
{
import flash.display.MovieClip;
import flash.events.MouseEvent;
public class DynamicButton extends MovieClip
{
public function DynamicButton(btnText:String="Click Me")
{
stop();
this.btnText_btn.text = btnText;
listen();
}//constructor
private function listen():void {
this.addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_OVER,function(){
gotoAndStop(2);
}//anon mouseover fcn
);
this.addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_DOWN,function(){
gotoAndStop(3);
}//anon mousedown fcn
);
this.addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_OUT,function(){
gotoAndStop(1);
}//anon mouseout fcn
);
}
}//class definition
}//package