sometimes, you want to know the instances class name or the superclass's name. AS3 offers a new function called getQualifiedClassName (flash.utils.getQualifiedClassName) to do just that:

PLAIN TEXT
Actionscript:
  1. var sprite:Sprite = new Sprite();
  2. trace(getQualifiedClassName(sprite)); // "flash.display::Sprite"
  3.  
  4. //or to retrieve the name of the super class, use:
  5. trace(getQualifiedSuperclassName(sprite)); // "flash.display::DisplayObjectContainer"

If you actually want to sieve through plenty of info about your instance, try describeType() (flash.utils.describeType).

PLAIN TEXT
Actionscript:
  1. var sprite:Sprite = new Sprite();
  2. var spriteDescription:XML = describeType(sprite);
  3. trace (spriteDescription);

try to see....(loads of data coming out here...)

what also fits in here is the use ofgetDefinitionByName()(flash.utils.getDefinitionByName).