Trace works, but array not populating

programming flash
1

K, I’m stumpered. I’ve got some xml that I want to use to populate the labels on an array of buttons that I’m putting in with attachMovie. the button(s) load (well, the first one does) and I’ve got a trace statement that shows the exact data I want in the button labels. But the numbers just refuse to appear in the button labels.

the labeling is correct; I’ve been looking at this for three days and checked the path and naming at least a dozen times.

for(i=0; i<total; i++){
        patMenuHolder_mc.attachMovie("patentBtn", "patentBtn"+i, i, {_x:xPos, _y:yPos})
            //establishes the distance of the array buttons from each other.
            this.yPos += ["patentBtn"+i]._height+3;
            //add the patent numbers to the button labels
            this["patentBtn"+i].buttonLabel_mc.labelText_txt.text = xmlNode.childNodes*.attributes.number;
            
            trace(xmlNode.childNodes*.attributes.number);

Could “this” be conflicting with the “patMenuHolder_mc”? I’ve removed and replaced them both a few times in different combinations with no effect.

the entire file is pretty large, but will be happy to upload if someone wants a closer look.