AS3 - file on disk, size in bytes?

I’m using Flash 9 Public Alpha, AS 3.0.

I have an image pre-loader that loads an uncertain number of external image files. I wish to show a progress bar based on the current bytes loaded vs the total bytes that need to be loaded for all images.

The problem I’m having is that the .bytesTotal property of the [URL=“http://livedocs.adobe.com/labs/as3preview/langref/flash/display/Loader.html”]Loader (well, technically the [URL=“http://livedocs.adobe.com/labs/as3preview/langref/flash/display/LoaderInfo.html”]LoaderInfo) class always returns 0 until the first ProgressEvent is dispatched, which doesn’t happen until after you begin loading the file. So I can’t figure out a good way to find out what the grand total number of bytes that need to be loaded is unless I start all of my images loading simultaneously or somehow begin loading and then stop them from loading–either of which seems a poor solution to me.

I tried using the File class to reference the .[URL=“http://livedocs.adobe.com/labs/as3preview/langref/flash/net/FileReference.html#size”]size property, but this apparently only works in Flex, not in F9PA since the compiler didn’t recognize the File class.

Any suggestions? Thanks.
~JC