AS3 - Access of undefined property (Static variable)

Question

I'm trying to change a static variable in the class's constructor. At the start I have:

public static var mainReference:Main;
public static var timerReference:Timer;
public var timer:Timer = new Timer(1000);

This is so my static functions can access main and timer. At Main's constructor I have:

mainReference = this;
timerReference = timer;

The problem is, the first gives no error when I compile it, but the second tells me Access of undefined property (timerReference).

What if you do timerReference = new Timer(1000) in the constructor instead? — Marty
– Marty, Commented Jul 12, 2011 at 8:36
Why? Initializing a static variable in every instance of a class doesn't sound like a very good idea to me. — RIAstar
– RIAstar, Commented Jul 12, 2011 at 8:43
@RIAstar Surely OP is not doing this with every class. I bet he just want a global access to the document class, just like a singleton. However timerReference is pretty useless since timer is public, making it possible to access it by doing Main.mainReference.timer. — rzetterberg
– rzetterberg, Commented Jul 12, 2011 at 8:47
@Ancide @Marty If the OP is doing this only with the first instance of the class, then the program becomes dependent on order of instantiation. Next developer comes in; he unknowingly changes the order in which objects are created; the program breaks. — RIAstar
– RIAstar, Commented Jul 12, 2011 at 9:11

rzetterberg · Accepted Answer · 2011-07-12 08:39:19Z

5

It might have something to do that the flash player is trying to access timerReference as a class var instead of a static var.

Try this:

this.mainReference = this;
Main.timerReference = this.timer;

Now you are telling flash player to explicitly access mainReference as a class var and timerReference as a static class var.

answered Jul 12, 2011 at 8:39

rzetterberg

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