How do I load variables into Flash from a PHP page WITHOUT saving it to a
DYNAMIC TEXT FIELD? I want to use/call it as _root.variableName or something
similar. (Sorta like FlashVars)

It seems in order to load variables dynamically; I would have to know the
name of each and every variable stored in the text file and create a subsequent
dynamic text field for it. Without a text field, there would be no way to see
the value of the variable. The problem is that I don?t know how many variables
will be in my PHP result.

Even after the text field has been populated, I am unable to retrieve its
value using the text property.

I have also tried using the LoadVars class, but was unable to store the
variables into global variables during the onLoad() function.

Tony, you must have misunderstood something.
There is no need to have a dynamic text field as long as you don't want to
show the information (in text form) to the user.
If your PHP sends time=830&place=my%20home then a loadVariables() or a
loadVars will construct two variables inside their parent: 'time' which will
contain a string "830" and 'place' with the string "my home". If the parent is
_root you have those variables in _root (but not in _global).
You don't need a text property. They're strings not fields!
Only if you want to show them to the user would you need something like
place_txt.text = place

This is actually my question that I asked Tony to post for me.

What do you mean 'construct two variables inside the parent?' I've attempted
to trace the loaded variables several times. If my_data is my LoadVar object,
trace(this.place) displays 'my home' during the onLoad() function. However,
when I try to trace my_data.place after the my_data.load() call, I get
undefined.

For clarity:

my_place = "";
my_data = new LoadVars();
my_data.onLoad = function(success)
{
if (success) {
trace(this.place); // displays 'my home'
_root.my_place = this.place;
trace(_root.my_place); // displays 'my home'
trace(this.toString()); // displays 'time=830&place=my%20home'
}
}

my_data.load("somepage.php"); // onLoad() gets called

trace(my_data.place); // dislays 'undefined'
trace(_root.my_place); // displays ''
trace(my_data.toString()); // displays 'onLoad=%5Btype%20Function%5D'

is that kinda your original code?

then no wonder that you get "undefined".
the onLoad-Event is not called when you tell your loadVars.load() - it?s
called after loading is finished and the received string is parsed to vars.

your trace-actions directly after your my_data.load(...) are executed BEFORE
the onLoad-Event fires, because loading is still in progress and the script
doesn?t wait for the loading to be complete before executing the next lines.

try that:

my_data = new LoadVars();
my_data.onLoad = function(success)
{
if (success) {
trace(this.place); // displays 'my home'
_root.my_place = this.place;
trace(_root.my_place); // displays 'my home'
trace(this.toString()); // displays 'time=830&place=my%20home'
}
checkmydata();
}

my_data.load("somepage.php");

checkmydata = function(){
trace(my_data.place);
trace(_root.my_place);
trace(my_data.toString());
}

Yeah, that's my original code.

Cool. I thought that might've been an issue, but was too lazy to code a
setInterval to repeatedly check for the status of the load. Didn't think
ActionScript was multi-threaded like that