New to flash - scoping issue

[Dean C]

function loadXML()
{
	var book_xml:XML;
 
	var urlLoader:URLLoader=new URLLoader();
	var urlRequest:URLRequest=new URLRequest("stories.xml");
 
	urlLoader.addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE, completeLoading);
	urlLoader.load(urlRequest);
	var holder = "";
	function completeLoading(event:Event):void {
		//when loading of XML completed, the data can
		//go into the internal variable of type XML
		book_xml=new XML(urlLoader.data);
		//display the XML object book_xml as a text
		//inside text area myxml_ta
		holder = book_xml.toString();
		// if i were to do the trace here it would output properly
	}
	// tracing here doesnt output the string
	trace(holder);
}

I can understand what's going on here, and why my XML isn't output. But essentially I need to access that XML outside of the callback function and return it. Is this possible? Is there a naughty way of getting around the scoping issue ?

[an00bis]

the event listener is being assigned before the function is defined. try making your reference to book_xml in the application class or on the _root.

[Dean C]

That can't be true because if I put trace(book_xml.toString()); in the callback function it outputs fine.