# createTextField() doesn't work anywhere but on \_root

**URL:** <https://forum.kirupa.com/t/createtextfield-doesnt-work-anywhere-but-on--root/171779>\
**Category:** flash\
**Created:** [December 8, 2005, 2:20am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/createtextfield-doesnt-work-anywhere-but-on--root/171779 "2005-12-08T02:20:29Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jcnes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/71c47a/32.png) [@jcnes](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/jcnes)\
**Post date:** [December 8, 2005, 2:20am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/createtextfield-doesnt-work-anywhere-but-on--root/171779/1 "2005-12-08T02:20:29Z")

</div>

Hi,  
I feel like I’m missing something obvious here, but I’m unable to add a textfield to any movieclip that I’ve attached to \_root. Here’s a generic example:

\_root.attachMovie(“generic\_mc”, “clip1”, this.getNextHighestDepth());  
rect1.\_x = 200;  
rect1.\_y = 200;

\_root.clip1.createTextField(“my\_text\_box”,10, 0, 0, 100, 30);  
my\_text\_box.text = “this is a test”;

The text simply will not show up, no matter what I try. Now, if I simply create the text field on \_root, of course everything works without a hitch. Am I just trying to do the impossible; is it only possible to dynamically put a text field in \_root?

Thanks in advance,  
John