You can do something like a promise or future, where you return empty XML and then populate it with the actual XML when the call returns. Since you are using Flex, you have access to data binding, which should allow this approach to work just fine.
You can't. Because xml load request is asynchronous. When you called loadXML, onXMLLoad not yet arrived.
So such work impossible asynchronous return. Surely you can waiting the function process while loop using, but this method not good. Because to full use a cpu resource, overkill.
You must next process in onXMLLoad function. It's the most appropriate. Or xml variable declared as global, and using a ENTER_FRAME or TimerEvent as a way to continue to operate if the xml is not null.
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