Old Color Change Code doesn't work in 7, 8

in older versions of flash, to change colors i used:

onClipEvent (load) {
    colorObj = new Color(_root.player);
}
onClipEvent (enterFrame) {
    colorOBJ.setTransform({ra:100, rb:(_root.colrb), ga:100, gb:(_root.colgb), ba:100, bb:(_root.colbb)});
}

where _root.colrb are variables that change.

it seems in flash 7 and 8 this doesnt work for some reason. I’ve noticed that some things such as hitTest, are case sensitive in 7 and 8, but not in 5, where i often wrote it just as hittest. is there something im missing here in terms of case? or do i just have to write the code completely different in 7, 8.