input text box not storing variables?

[Demastras]

i want to get a user to input into an input box. they do this and the code im using is:

var tempstring:String;
tempstring = inputstring;

all variable names on the input boxes are working

however when i trace tempstring this is what it says in output

<TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="29" COLOR="#000000" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">3</FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT>

of course i want it to read the one character they enter into the inputstring box. what am i not doing here?