[AS3] attaching buttons / movieclips from library that contain other items already

So im trying out AS3 and kinda havin some issues. I want to be able to attach a button or a movieclip that I have constructed in the Flash IDE - it contains a textfield, some other movieclips, etc.

If i make it a button, I have tried subclassing the simplebutton class, attaching that class to the button, and then creating new instances of that class. That works fine - until I have to access, say, a textfield in the button. It seems that these elements are drawn, but are not accessible (or even connected in any way - i used flash.utils.descibreType(mybutton) and the instance names dont even show up in the XML).

So, I thought about a different route - using a movieclip or sprite, and making it react LIKE a SimpleButton. Not what I had in mind, but whatever. Unfortunately, it seems that when I subclass Sprite or MovieClip, the class has to be made dynamic in order to attach things to it from within the IDE before compilation (as opposed to from actionscript).

What is the best method to create a button in the Flash IDE with textfields, sprites, etc, and have access to those elements from the class that’s attached to the symbol??