Get metadata of object including ancestor metadata

        /**
         * Creates and array of metadata items for the given object type including inherited metadata.
         *
         * For example, if you give it a Spark Button class it gets all the
         * information for it and then gets it's super class ButtonBase and
         * adds all that information and so on until it gets to Object. <br/><br/>
         *
         * Usage:<br/><pre>
         * var allStyles:XMLList = concatenateMetaDataXMLItems(myButton, "Style", new XMLList());
         * </pre>
         * @param metaType The name of the data in the item name property. Either Style or Event
         * @param existingItems The list of the data in the item name property
         * */
        public static function concatenateMetaDataXMLItems(object:Object, metaType:String, existingItems:XMLList):XMLList {
            var describedTypeRecord:mx.utils.DescribeTypeCacheRecord = mx.utils.DescribeTypeCache.describeType(object);
            var typeDescription:* = describedTypeRecord.typeDescription;
            var hasFactory:Boolean = typeDescription.factory.length()>0;
            var factory:* = typeDescription.factory;
            var extendsClass:XMLList = typeDescription.extendsClass;
            var extendsLength:int = extendsClass.length();
            var list:XMLListCollection = new XMLListCollection(typeDescription.*);
            // can be on typeDescription.metadata or factory.metadata
            var isRoot:Boolean = object is String ? false : true;
            var className:String = !isRoot ? object as String : getQualifiedClassName(object);
            var itemsLength:int;
            var itemsList:XMLList;
            var existingItemsLength:int = existingItems.length();
            var metaName:String;
            var duplicateItems:Array = [];

            if (hasFactory) {
                //itemsList = factory.metadata.(@name==name); property "name" won't work! no matches found
                itemsList = factory.metadata.(@name==metaType);
            }
            else {
                itemsList = typeDescription.metadata.(@name==metaType);
            }

            itemsList = itemsList.copy();
            itemsLength = itemsList.length();

            for (var i:int;i<itemsLength;i++) {
                var item:XML = XML(itemsList[i]);
                metaName = item.arg[0].@value;
                item.@name = metaName;
                item.@dispatchedBy = className;
                item.@className = className.indexOf("::")!=-1 ? className.split("::")[1] : className;
                //continue;
                for (var j:int=0;j<existingItemsLength;j++) {
                    var existingItem:XML = existingItems[j];
                    if (metaName==existingItem.@name) {
                        delete itemsList[i];
                        itemsLength--;
                        i--;
                        continue;
                    }
                }
            }


            if (itemsLength>0) {
                existingItems = new XMLList(existingItems.toString()+itemsList.toString());
            }

            if (isRoot && extendsLength>0) {
                for (i=0;i<extendsLength;i++) {
                    var newClass:String = String(extendsClass[i].@type);
                    existingItems = concatenateMetaDataXMLItems(newClass, metaType, existingItems);
                }
            }

            return existingItems;
        }