flash actionscript: seems simple enough. why won't this work?

my_text.renderAsHTML = true;

then I have a dynamic text field named "my_text" with "[B]test[/B]" written
inside of it.

result is " [B]test[/B]", not a bolded "test".

like this

yes, i had already tried this. it does not work either, and has the same result.

my_text.html = true;
my_text.htmlText="[B]test[/B]";

good idea. i still get no results with this though.

i have the same dynamic text field called "my_text" (blank, and designated to
show red colored text on a white background). with the above code, i see
nothing.

i also tried prescribing a variable "htmlText" to the dynamic field with no
results either.

how do we do this?

Try this code in a new fla file:
this.createTextField("my_txt", this.getNextHighestDepth(), 10, 10, 160, 22);
my_txt.html = true;
my_txt.htmlText = "[B] this is bold text [/B]";

If that doesn't work, check your publish settings. htmlText is available for
AS1 and with FP6 or above.

If you use a dynamic text field on the stage, the instance name of the text
field - which you set in the property inspector - must be 'my_txt', NOT the var
option.