Using XML and ActionScript with Flex Applications

ActionScript 3.0 supports class reflection using the following functions in the flash.utils package:

flash.utils package:ActionScript 3.0 supports class reflection using the following functions in the flash.utils package:

1. getQualifiedClassName
   
2. getQualifiedSuperclassName
   
3. getDefinitionByName 
   
4. describeType

We’ll next discuss each of these functions in more detail.

Getting the Class Name

You can retrieve the name of the class for which an object is an instance using the getQualifiedClassName() function. The function requires that you pass it a reference to an object; it then returns the fully qualified class name:

  var loader:URLLoader = new URLLoader();
  var className:String = getQualifiedClassName(loader);
  trace(className); // Displays flash.net.URLLoader

If you want to retrieve the fully qualified superclass name for an object, you can use thegetQualifiedSuperclassName()function:

  var loader:URLLoader = new URLLoader();
  var className:String = getQualifiedSuperclassName(loader);
  trace(className); // Displays flash.events.EventDispatcher