communication between custom classes

[freddyk]

Hi

Is there a simple way to communicate with the root of a Flex 3 application? Something like the _root call used to be in past versions of ActionScript.

If you have one custom mxml class inside another custom class how can I call functions in the main application from the custom class that is called from within another custom class.

I have a scrolling list that is made up of item renderers that are a custom class. When the user clicks the items contained within the item renders I want to send data to the main application. If the class is directly under the main application I can use the mx:Metadata tag to create a custom event which works great. I just can't seem to get it to work if the custom event is sent from a custom component that is being used to render items in another custom component.

I have heard that maybe the 'bubbles' feature can help but I have not been able to figure out how to take advantage of it.

This has really been killing forward progress. Any links, threads, or tips would really be appreciated.

Thanks

[freddyk]

I have had a breakthrough on the issue. Of course it is so easy that I want to strangle myself.

In Flex 3 I can use the following code to populate a text box at the root of the application:
mx.core.Application.application.forChange.text = "Boo";

Of course I am late to the game because this simple solution has already been depreciated by Flex 4. Now I am told to use:
FlexGlobals.topLevelApplication

But I have not figured out how to get that to work. Any tips?

I know that this route is not as good as using custom events but in the case of my components within components issue I will take what I can get.

[freddyk]

Here it is:
mx.core.FlexGlobals.topLevelApplication.forChange. text = "Hell Yea";

So this is still not best practices but I need the solution. In most cases using the mx:Metadata tag to create a custom event is best.

Now if I could only figure out how to do the same thing from within a .swf file the rest would be a cake walk. Any Ideas? How to write a Flash swf button that can make a similar call to:
mx.core.FlexGlobals.topLevelApplication.forChange. text = "Hell Yea";