Bind to textarea.text in a separate component file - apache-flex

Question

I have a create characters component with a tabnavigator and textarea. In my main app I want to save the textarea id - mainchar text to the tag. I tried dotnotation, nothing, I tried import components.CreateCharacter; and still nothing, and tried some other options found on the net but can't get this to work.
Note, the code works fine if I call components in the main app, so the code works fine it is just the calling of the component (CreateCharacters) in the components folder. The components folder is in the src folder. Here is the code:
Main.mxml
<fx:Script>
<![CDATA[
import components.CreateCharacters
[Bindable]
public var xmlData:XML=<ROOTS></ROOTS>;
public function sav_clickHandler(event:MouseEvent):void
{
var fr:FileReference = new FileReference();
var ba:ByteArray = new ByteArray();
var newXmlRow:XML=<ROOTS>
<TXT>{components.CreateCharacters.mainchar.text}</TXT>// The problem lies with this line
<TXTA>{txt2.text}</TXTA>
<DTF>{txt3.text}</DTF>
</ROOTS>;
ba.writeMultiByte(newXmlRow, 'utf-8');
fr.save(ba);
}
private var openedFile:File;
private function open_clickHandler(event:MouseEvent):void {
openedFile = new File();
openedFile.addEventListener(Event.SELECT, file_select);
openedFile.browseForOpen("Please select a file...");
}
private function file_select(event:Event):void {
if(openedFile != null && openedFile.exists){
var fileStream:FileStream = new FileStream();
fileStream.open(openedFile, FileMode.READ);
var readXML:XML = XML(fileStream.readUTFBytes(fileStream.bytesAvailable));
fileStream.close();
trace(readXML.toString());
CreateCaracters.maichar.text = readXML.TXT;
txt2.text = readXML.TXTA;
txt3.text = readXML.DTF;
}
trace(event);
}
]]>
</fx:Script>
<fx:Declarations>
<!-- Place non-visual elements (e.g., services, value objects) here -->
<net:FileReference id="fileReference" />
</fx:Declarations>
<s:Image x="0" y="0" width="100%" height="50" scaleMode="stretch"
source="assets/imaginationFly.png"/>
<s:Image x="12" y="1" source="assets/ECWDove.png"/>
<mx:TabNavigator x="1" y="49" width="100%" height="100%" backgroundColor="#7EB7C5"
chromeColor="#85B5BF">
<s:NavigatorContent width="100%" height="100%" label="Start">
<s:TextArea id="txt2" x="57" y="29"/>
</s:NavigatorContent>
<s:NavigatorContent id="Characters" width="100%" height="100%" label="Characters">
<components:CreateCharacters id="creatchr" width="100%" height="100%"/>
</s:NavigatorContent>
<s:NavigatorContent width="100%" height="100%" label="Worlds">
<s:TextArea id="txt3" x="55" y="10"
text="hello
I am testing this shit
hope it works"/>
<s:Button id="sav" x="285" y="138" label="Save" click="sav_clickHandler(event)"/>
<s:Button id="open" x="381" y="138" label="Open" click="open"/>
etc...
CreateCharaters.mxml (component)
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<s:HGroup xmlns:fx="http://ns.adobe.com/mxml/2009"
xmlns:s="library://ns.adobe.com/flex/spark"
xmlns:mx="library://ns.adobe.com/flex/mx"
chromeColor="#0106BD" paddingLeft="10" paddingRight="0">
<fx:Declarations>
<!-- Place non-visual elements (e.g., services, value objects) here -->
</fx:Declarations>
<mx:ViewStack id="Characters" x="172" y="10" width="81" height="100%" backgroundColor="#030BB3"
chromeColor="#D7D7D8" paddingLeft="5" paddingRight="15">
<s:NavigatorContent id="Hero" width="100%" height="95%" label="Main Charater">
<s:HGroup width="100%" height="100%">
<s:TextArea id="mainchar" bottom="0" width="80%" height="100%"
chromeColor="#7070FD">//this is the textarea I want to use
<s:text><![CDATA[
Name:
Surname:
Nickname:
Hair Color:
etc...
Any help please

Answer 1

Why would you need binding in that case?
Your XML node is created and the text property is evaluated inside the same function so it should not be a problem. In other words, when the event handler is called, the current value of text will be copied inside your XML node but any future changes won't be reflected (you probably don't need that anyway since you save the XML file when clicking 'Save').
As for the chain in between curly braces, {components.CreateCharacters.mainchar.text} does not seem correct because components.CreateCharacters is a class reference, and not the reference to the component directly. Instead you should use creatchr;
I am not sure if the variable replacement inside XML supports .. Have you tried saving the text value inside a local or a class variable like this ?
var currentText:String = creatchr.mainchar.text;
<TXT>{currentText}</TXT>