TypeError: Error #1009: Cannot access a property or method of a null object reference

[koyn]

I use to get this problem and be able to solve it, but i'm stumped. My button use to work and then I added some code in the proceedToGame function and I get this error. Thanks in advance

TypeError: Error #1009: Cannot access a property or method of a null object reference.

package actions {
	
	/*always extend a class using movieclip instead of sprite when using flash.*/

	import flash.display.MovieClip;
	import flash.events.*;
	import flash.net.*;
	import flash.text.*;
	import nextButton;
	/*create our class*/
	
	public class main extends MovieClip {
		
		var next_btn:nextButton = new nextButton;
		
		public function main ():void {
					stop();
			/*
			buttonMode gives the submit button a rollover
			*/
			submit_button.buttonMode = true;

			/*
			what this says is that when our button is pressed, the checkLogin function will run
			*/

			submit_button.addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_DOWN, checkLogin);
			
			/*
			set the initial textfield values
			*/
			
			username.text = "";
			password.text = "";
		
		}

		/*
		the function to check login
		*/
		
		public function checkLogin (e:MouseEvent):void {
		
			/*
			check fields before sending request to php
			*/
			
			if (username.text == "" || password.text == "") {
				
				/*
				if username or password fields are empty set error messages
				*/
				
				if (username.text == "") {
				
				username.text = "Enter your username";
				
				} 
				
				if (password.text == "") {
				
				password.text = "Enter your password";
				
				}
			
			} else {
				
				/*
				init function to process login
				*/
			
				processLogin();
			
			}
		
		}
		
		/*
		function to process our login
		*/
		
		public function processLogin ():void {
			
			/*
			variables that we send to the php file
			*/
		
			var phpVars:URLVariables = new URLVariables();
			
			/*
			we create a URLRequest  variable. This gets the php file path.
			*/
			
			var phpFileRequest:URLRequest = new URLRequest("php/controlpanel.php");
			
			/*
			this allows us to use the post function in php
			*/
			
			phpFileRequest.method = URLRequestMethod.POST;
			
			/*
			attach the php variables to the URLRequest
			*/
			
			phpFileRequest.data = phpVars;
			
			/*
			create a new loader to load and send our urlrequest
			*/
			
			var phpLoader:URLLoader = new URLLoader();
			phpLoader.dataFormat = URLLoaderDataFormat.VARIABLES;			
			phpLoader.addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE, showResult);
			
			/*
			now lets create the variables to send to the php file
			*/
			
			phpVars.systemCall = "checkLogin";
			phpVars.username = username.text;
			phpVars.password = password.text;
			
			/*
			this will start the communication between flash and php
			*/
			
			phpLoader.load(phpFileRequest);
		
		}
		
		/*
		function to show the result of the login
		*/
		
		public function showResult (event:Event):void {
			
			/*
			this autosizes the text field
			***** You will need to import flash's text classes. You can do this by: 
			import flash.text.*;
			*/
			result_text.autoSize = TextFieldAutoSize.LEFT;
			result_text.text = "Processing please wait...";
			/*
			this gets the output and displays it in the result text field
			*/
			if(event.target.data.systemResult == "Approved")
			{	
				addChild(next_btn);
				result_text.text = event.target.data.systemResult;
				next_btn.buttonMode = true;
				// naragor@gmail.com
				next_btn.x = 350;
				next_btn.y = 275;
				next_btn.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, proceedToGame);
			}
			else{
				result_text.text = event.target.data.systemResult;
			}	
		
		}
		public function proceedToGame(event:Event):void
		{
			gotoAndStop(2);
			removeChild(next_btn);
			var phpVars2:URLVariables = new URLVariables();
			var phpFileRequest2:URLRequest = new URLRequest("php/usersOnline.class.php");
			
			phpFileRequest2.method = URLRequestMethod.POST;
			
			phpFileRequest2.data = phpVars2;
			
			var phpLoader2:URLLoader = new URLLoader();
			phpLoader2.dataFormat = URLLoaderDataFormat.TEXT;			
			phpLoader2.addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE, showUsersOnline);
			
			phpVars2.username2 = username.text;
			
		
			phpLoader2.load(phpFileRequest2);
		}
	
		public function showUsersOnline(event:Event):void
		{
			users_online_txt.text =  event.target.data.userCount;
		}
	}

}

[koyn]

Alright well I solved the problem, but in a way I really didn't want it to be solved.

In the showResult function I removed the event listener and just called a function called "clickzorz". Then I just made a function called clickzorz that had the event listener and everything works fine now.

[BlueGeek]

did the error come with any additional text?

[caseyryan]

Why don't you use double line (//) comments in your code and use [HIGHLIGHТ=actionscripit][/HIGHLIGHТ]tags instead of "code"

Your code is absolutely unreadable