[flexcoders] Issue adding an Image component to a custom component

[gordofeatherfoot]

Hello,

I have a problem that is not so easy to expose so please bare with me.

I have a Component class written is AS3 which extends the Canvas Class. I then 
have a weather component written in mxml that uses as a base the the Component 
class. ie my weather component.mxml looks something like this:

<components:Component 
        xmlns:components="net.zzzzzz.components.*" 
        xmlns:mx="http://www.adobe.com/2006/mxml";
        verticalScrollPolicy="off" horizontalScrollPolicy="off"
        preinitialize="onPreInitialize()">
        ...
       ...
   <script .........>
     <mx:HBox id="hbxBackground" width="256"    height="120" />
                
        <mx:HBox id="hbxInnerFrame" x="15" y="15" width="226" height="50"/>
                
        <mx:HBox id="hbxBottom" x="15" y="65" width="226" height="40"/>
                
        <mx:HBox id="hbxMiddle" x="15" y="40" width="226" height="40"/>
        
        <mx:Label id="lblLocation"      x="15" y="12" width="226"/>
        
        <mx:Image id="meteoImg" x="56" y="63" /> -----> this causes the error !
                
        <mx:Label id="lblTemperature" x="132" y="40" width="100"/>
                
        <mx:Label id="lblDayTitle" x="15" y="78" width="226"/>
</components:Component>

This weather component is compiled into a swf seperatly from my main app.
In my main app I load the weather component definition from the swf with a 
loader. I instantiate this weather component (by extracting it's definition 
through the loader) and add it to the stage. 

When adding it to the stage i get the following error:

 TypeError: Error #1009: Cannot access a property or method of a null object 
reference.
        at 
mx.controls::SWFLoader/addedToStageHandler()[C:\autobuild\3.3.0\frameworks\projects\framework\src\mx\controls\SWFLoader.as:1990]
        at flash.display::DisplayObjectContainer/addChildAt()
        at 
mx.core::UIComponent/http://www.adobe.com/2006/flex/mx/internal::$addChildAt()[C:\autobuild\3.3.0\frameworks\projects\framework\src\mx\core\UIComponent.as:5083]
        at 
mx.core::Container/addChildAt()[C:\autobuild\3.3.0\frameworks\projects\framework\src\mx\core\Container.as:2215]
        at 
mx.core::Container/addChild()[C:\autobuild\3.3.0\frameworks\projects\framework\src\mx\core\Container.as:2140]
        at 
mx.core::Container/createComponentFromDescriptor()[C:\autobuild\3.3.0\frameworks\projects\framework\src\mx\core\Container.as:3681]
        at 
mx.core::Container/createComponentsFromDescriptors()[C:\autobuild\3.3.0\frameworks\projects\framework\src\mx\core\Container.as:3493]
        at 
IDSWeather/init()[/Users/bounce/Documents/IdScreen/Components/src/IDSWeather.mxml:375]


This error happens when flex is trying to add the Image component that i 
defined in the mxml of the weather component. Specifically this error happens 
in SWFLoader in the following function:

 private function addedToStageHandler(event:Event):void
    {
        
systemManager.getSandboxRoot().addEventListener(InterManagerRequest.DRAG_MANAGER_REQUEST,
 
                mouseShieldHandler, false, 0, true);
    }

Here 'systemManager' is null and i don't understand why.

Any help would be very much appreaciated.

Many thanks,
Bounce.