public static function getElementById(id:String,root:Container, maximumLayer:int):Object {

var parentComponent:Container = root;
var foundOrReachedTreeEnd:Boolean = false;
var currentIndex:int = 0;
var layer:int = 0;
var layerIndexes:Array = new Array();
layerIndexes.push(0);
var status:String = “parent”;
var elem:Object;
while( !foundOrReachedTreeEnd ){
try{
if( status == “parent” ) {
elem = parentComponent[id];
foundOrReachedTreeEnd = true;
} else {
currentIndex = layerIndexes[layer] as int;
var childObject:UIComponent = parentComponent.getChildAt(currentIndex) as UIComponent;
if( childObject.id == id ) {
elem = childObject;
} else {
elem = childObject[id];
}
foundOrReachedTreeEnd = true;
}
}catch(e:ReferenceError){
if( status == “children” ) {
currentIndex = layerIndexes[layer] as int;
currentIndex++
} else {
status = “children”
}
if( currentIndex >= parentComponent.getChildren().length ) {
status = “parent”
currentIndex = 0;
var nextContainerFoundOrRootLayerReached:Boolean = false;
while( !nextContainerFoundOrRootLayerReached ) {

if( currentIndex >= parentComponent.getChildren().length || layer == maximumLayer ) {
layerIndexes[layer] = 0;
layer–;
foundOrReachedTreeEnd = layer == -1;
if( foundOrReachedTreeEnd )break;

layerIndexes[layer] = layerIndexes[layer]+1;
currentIndex = layerIndexes[layer];
parentComponent = parentComponent.parent as Container;
} else {
var ui:UIComponent;
var dummy:UIComponent = parentComponent.getChildAt(currentIndex) as UIComponent;
if( dummy is Container && dummy.id != null ) {
parentComponent = dummy as Container;
nextContainerFoundOrRootLayerReached = true;
layerIndexes[layer] = currentIndex;
layerIndexes.push(0);
layer++;
currentIndex = layerIndexes[layer];
} else {
currentIndex++;
}
}
}
} else {
layerIndexes[layer] = currentIndex;
}
}
}
return elem;
}