Can textfields be used as buttons?

I’m trying to code a simple menu using textfields as buttons. As is, the code below traces with the onSetFocus event, but I can’t get the textfields to respond to regular “button” events like onRelease. Is this expected? Can someone tell me what I’m missing?

Thanks for any help.
-pixel_streamer

import flash.display.BitmapData;
import flash.geom.Rectangle;
import flash.geom.Matrix;
import flash.geom.ColorTransform;

var txtFormat:TextFormat = new TextFormat();
var children:Array = null;
this.createEmptyMovieClip(“bg”, this.getNextHighestDepth());
this.createEmptyMovieClip(“contents”, this.getNextHighestDepth());
//MovieClip bg;
// Create a new XML object.
var menuXml:XML = new XML();
// Set the ignoreWhite property to true (default value is false).
menuXml.ignoreWhite = true;
// After loading is complete, trace the XML object.
menuXml.onLoad = function(success) {
children = menuXml.firstChild.childNodes;
//var txtFormat:TextFormat = new TextFormat();
txtFormat.color = 0xFFFFFF;
//txtFormat.bold=true;
txtFormat.align = “center”;
txtFormat.size = 12;
txtFormat.font = “Artist_Choice”;
for (var i = 0; i < children.length; i++) {
var indLabel:String = String(children*.attributes.label);
var btnlabel:String = String(“choices” + i);
contents.createTextField(String(“choices” + i), contents.getNextHighestDepth(), Number((93 * i) + 10), 8, 80, 20);
contents[btnlabel].embedFonts = true;
contents[btnlabel].multiline = true;
contents[btnlabel].wordWrap = true;
contents[btnlabel].autoSize = “right”;
//contents[btnlabel].selectable = false;
contents[btnlabel].antiAliasType = “advanced”;
contents[btnlabel].gridFitType = “pixel”;
contents[btnlabel].border = true;
contents[btnlabel].background = true;
contents[btnlabel].backgroundColor = 0x2F8033;
// the text below should work well for just about any vector text. (thickness -50, sharpness 150, antialiastype adv)
// the text below should work well for hamiltons bitmapped text. (thickness -55, sharpness 200, antialiastype adv, bold should be active in the library)
//thickness is from -200 to 200
contents[btnlabel].thickness = -50;
//sharpness is from -400 to 400
contents[btnlabel].sharpness = 150;
contents[btnlabel].type = “dynamic”;
contents[btnlabel].text = indLabel;
contents[btnlabel].setTextFormat(txtFormat);
/contents[btnlabel].onRelease = function():Void {
trace("CLICKED ON : " + this);
};
/
contents[btnlabel].onSetFocus = function():Void {
trace("CLICKED ON : " + this);
};
}
};
// Load the XML object.
menuXml.load(“menu.xml”);