Event listener on button not working

Question

So, my menu for my game is in a separate .fla file and I have used a loader like so to load the menu into my game:

package  {
import flash.display.MovieClip;
import flash.display.Sprite;
import flash.display.DisplayObject;
import flash.display.Stage;
import flash.events.Event;
import flash.events.MouseEvent;
import flash.events.TimerEvent;
import flash.utils.Timer;
import flash.ui.Mouse;
import flash.media.Sound;
import flash.media.SoundChannel;
import flash.text.TextFormat;
import flash.text.TextField;
import flash.display.Loader;
import flash.net.URLRequest;
import flash.net.URLLoader;
import flash.system.LoaderContext;
import flash.display.Sprite;
import flash.net.Socket;
import caurina.transitions.Tweener;


public class Main extends MovieClip {

public static var gameLayer:Sprite = new Sprite;
public static var endGameLayer:Sprite = new Sprite;
public static var menuLayer:Sprite = new Sprite;

public var gameTime:int;
public var levelDuration:int;

public function Main()
{
    addChild(gameLayer);
    addChild(endGameLayer);
    addChild(menuLayer);

    var myMenu:Loader = new Loader();
    var url:URLRequest = new URLRequest("Menu.swf");
    myMenu.load(url);
    myMenu.contentLoaderInfo.addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE, menuLoaded);

    function menuLoaded(event:Event):void
    {
        menuLayer.addChild(myMenu.content);
    }

    playBtn.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, startGame);
}



public function startGame(e:Event)
{
    // Code to remove the menu (menuLayer.removeChild?)
    // Code here to start timers etc
}

I set instance names for my buttons but when I try to do something like menuLayer.playBtn.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, startGame);, I get messages saying Access of undefined property playBtn.

Now, I double checked on my Menu.fla and I definitely gave the button an instance name of playBtn but it's not working. Any help please? Might be something really obvious I've missed but I'm not sure what.

EDIT: Trying it another way (Converting the menu to a movieclip) but not 100% sure how to do it exactly. The code I have is:

public class Main extends MovieClip {

var mainMenu:menuMain = new menuMain;
// Other variables

 public function Main()
   {
        addChild(gameLayer);
        addChild(endGameLayer);
        addChild(menuLayer);

        menuLayer.addChild(mainMenu);
        mainMenu.addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE, menuLoaded);
   }

   function menuLoaded(event:Event):void
   {
         //var mainMenu:LoaderInfo = event.currentTarget as LoaderInfo;
         //var menuInstance:MovieClip = menuLayer.getChildAt(0) as MovieClip;

         // now you can actually add the listener, because the content is actually loaded
        mainMenu.playBtn.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, startGame);
   }

    public function startGame(e:Event)
    {
       // Code to execute timers etc.
    }

Answer 1

My guess is that you think that when you go menuLayer.addChild(myMenu.content) that menuLayer suddenly becomes an instance of menu.swf That is not the case. It becomes a child of menuLayer.

Try this :

menuLayer.addChild(myMenu.content);
var menuInstance:MovieClip = menuLayer.getChildAt(0) as MovieClip;
trace (menuInstance.playBtn);

This code assumes that you have nothing else added to menuLayer and in that case your menu.swf content would be the only child on the display list of menuLayer.

I am also assuming that menu.swf's contents are a MovieClip.

If my assumptions are wrong, this may not work.

I also noticed that you have your menuLoaded method inside your constructor. Not a good idea. Especially since the next line is expecting playBtn to exist and the menu hasn't even been loaded.

Try something like this :

public function Main()
{
    addChild(gameLayer);
    addChild(endGameLayer);
    addChild(menuLayer);

    var myMenu:Loader = new Loader();
    var url:URLRequest = new URLRequest("Menu.swf");
    myMenu.load(url);
    myMenu.contentLoaderInfo.addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE, menuLoaded);



}


function menuLoaded(event:Event):void
{
     var myMenu:LoaderInfo = event.currentTarget as LoaderInfo;
     menuLayer.addChild(myMenu.content);
     var menuInstance:MovieClip = menuLayer.getChildAt(0) as MovieClip;

     // now you can actually add the listener, because the content is actually loaded
     menuInstance.playBtn.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, startGame);
}


public function startGame(e:Event)
{

    // Code to remove the menu (menuLayer.removeChild?)
    // Code here to start timers etc
}