unable to set width/height on FlexSprite

I'm trying to set width/height of a FlexSprite object in ActionScript but it doesn't seem to work at all. I'm still a rookie when it comes to ActionScript and I don't understand why I can't set the dimensions of that object. I know I could use a UIComponent but I need something more lightweight since I'm going to add hundreds of them.

public class MyComp extends UIComponent
{
    public function MyComp()
    {
        super();
    }

    private var _sprite:FlexSprite;

    private var _button:Button;

    override protected function createChildren():void {
        if (!_sprite) {
            _sprite = new FlexSprite();

            _sprite.width = 200;
            _sprite.height = 200;
            addChild(_sprite);
        }
        if (!_button) {
            _button = new Button();
            _button.label = "Click me";
            _button.width = 150;
            _button.height = 40;
            addChild(_button);
        }

        super.createChildren();
    }
    override protected function measure():void {
开发者_开发知识库        measuredHeight = measuredMinHeight = 200;
        measuredWidth = measuredMinWidth = 200;
    }

    override protected function updateDisplayList(unscaledWidth:Number, unscaledHeight:Number):void {
        super.updateDisplayList(unscaledWidth,unscaledHeight);
        trace('dimz of _sprite', _sprite.width, _sprite.height);
        _sprite.width = 100; // doesn't work either
        trace('dimz of _sprite again', _sprite.width, _sprite.height);
        trace('dimz of _button', _button.width, _button.height);
    }
}

The output I get is:

dimz of _sprite 0 0
dimz of _sprite again 0 0
dimz of _button 150 40

I plan to add other objects inside the FlexSprite and I need to set their dimensions explicitly as well so I really need to figure out how to do that.

A few things that may be issues:

1. A Sprite, as best I understand it, is kind of like a container. By itself it has no visual elements; so nothing will be displayed on the screen just by using an instance of a FlexSprite.
2. You do not position your elements in the component; and UIComponent does not have any code to automatically position its children; therefore the button would show up on top of the sprite anyway. You can change that by adding some positioning code in updateDisplayList(). Something like this:

'

override protected function updateDisplayList(unscaledWidth:Number, unscaledHeight:Number):void {
 super.updateDisplayList(unscaledWidth,unscaledHeight);
 _sprite.x = 10;
 _sprite.y = 10;
 _button.x = 400;
 _button.y = 400;
}

I'm guessing--but don't know b/c source is not available--that the Sprite (which FlexSprite extends) is re-sizing itself to it's Children; which is currently non-existent.