Main Class unable to identify Clips in the Flash IDE

[yvillicana]

Hi,

I'm using the Flash IDE with a Main Class(CarouselNew) and for some reason, the objects that are on stage(given instance names) in the the Flash IDE are throwing errors when I try to run the swf. On the most basic level, I have a mc on the stage with an instance name of myContent and just tracing it throws an 1120 error--I added some ADDED_TO_STAGE event code in the initial declaration of the class to make sure that the mcs, like the myContent mc, are on the display list and yet it doesnt work---Also, if I have a mc within the myContent mc with an instance name of mycontainer would I access its properties like this:

myContent.mycontainer.z = 100;

That's how I've been doing it until now.

Can someone help?

I can bypass the first trace error if I explicitly declare the var by using this:

public var myContent :MovieClip;

but I don't understand why I would need to do that being its on the stage in the Flash IDE...and I still can't access the mc within that clip with an instance name of mycontainer...get a 1010 error--term is undefined...

Here is some of the code and the code that throws the first error--

public function CarouselNew()
		{
			addEventListener(Event.ADDED_TO_STAGE, onAddedToStage);

			function onAddedToStage(evt:Event):void
			{
				trace(myContent);
				removeEventListener(Event.ADDED_TO_STAGE, onAddedToStage);
			}

			if (stage)
			{
				contextMenu = new ContextMenu();
				contextMenu.hideBuiltInItems();
				init();
				loadXML();
				//addChild(myContent);

			}
			else
			{
				addEventListener(Event.ADDED_TO_STAGE,init);
			}

		private function init():void
		{
			container = new Sprite();
			container.x = 450;
			container.y = 450;
			container.z = 400;
			addChild(container);
			cloudBut.visible = false;
			cloudBut.buttonMode = true;
			cloudBut.mouseChildren = false;

			//cover.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, stageClick);
			removeEventListener(Event.ADDED_TO_STAGE, init);
			this.addEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME, loop);
		}

The trace statement throws that error...

Thanks,
---Yvette