[flexcoders] Flex 4.1 VBOX background renderer fails

[Sells, Fred]

I'm using a VBox as a renderer for a datagrid as shown below.  I've
tried every combination I can think of but I can only set the background
color of the mx:TextArea in the mxml.  I need to change it in the
actionscript.  I've tried styles and properties with no success.  I'm
reluctant to change wrapper or children since I had a very hard time
getting it to work with a custom row height.  I used HTML text so I
could add some bold/font color decoration; although that requirement has
dissipated. 

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<mx:VBox xmlns:fx="http://ns.adobe.com/mxml/2009"; 
                 xmlns:s="library://ns.adobe.com/flex/spark" 
                 xmlns:mx="library://ns.adobe.com/flex/mx"
                 borderThickness="0"
                 verticalScrollPolicy="off" horizontalScrollPolicy="off"
                 paddingBottom="0" paddingLeft="0" paddingRight="0"
paddingTop="0"
                 >
        <fx:Script>
                <![CDATA[
                        private var _data:Object;
                        
                        public static var PAYOR_COLORS:Object
={"0":"pink", "1":"lightgreen", "3":"libhtblue", "8":"yellow"};
                        
                        override public function set
data(value:Object):void{
                                _data = value;
                                mytext.htmlText = "set data called";
                                if (_data==null ||
_data.resident__id=="0")                {
                                        mytext.visible = false;
                                }else{
                                        mytext.visible = true;
                                        var color:String =
PAYOR_COLORS[_data.payor];
                                        if (color==null) color="black";
                                        //mytext.backgroundColor =
color;
                                        mytext.opaqueBackground = color;
                                        mytext.htmlText = _data.name;
                                        trace("colordata.name =
"+color+", payor="+_data.payor);
                                        //mytext.styleName =
"payor"+_data.payor;
        
//this.setStyle("backgroundColor", "yellow");
        
//trace("style=payor"+_data.payor+";");
                                        //this.setStyle("color",
"green");
                                        //background = true;
                                        trace("render "+_data.name+",
"+color);
                                }
                        }
                        
                        
                        override public function get data():Object{
                                return _data;
                        }
                        
                        
                ]]>
        </fx:Script>
        <mx:TextArea id="mytext" width="100%" height="100%"  
                                 useHandCursor="true" buttonMode="true"
mouseFocusEnabled="false" mouseChildren="false"  
                                 editable="false" 
                                 verticalScrollPolicy="off"
horizontalScrollPolicy="off" 
                                 >
<!--            <mx:htmlText  >
                        <![CDATA[Joe Bl0w <font
color="#FF0000">MCD</font> <p>line2</p>]]>
                </mx:htmlText>
                
-->     
        </mx:TextArea>
        
        <!-- sample use from web        <![CDATA[
        Joe Blw <font color="#FF0000">HTML text</font> in a <b>Halo
TextArea control</b>. 
        <p>Use the <u>htmlText property</u> of the <font
color="#008800">TextArea control</font> to include basic HTML markup in
your text.
        ]]>
        -->     
</mx:VBox>