Message missing from alert box & Can you disable everything until user selects an answer?

Question 1 - My alert box window is working, and the title and buttons function as they should, but does anyone know why my message is not showing up?

Question 2 - How do you program the alert box window so that no other buttons on your application work until the user selects one of your alert window buttons? I can do this manually by setting everything to enabled = false, but I know this happens automatically every other time I've used the alert window component, but it's not working for me now.

Question 3 - How can I prevent multiple alert windows from popping up? My alert comes up when a user clicks a button called 'Delete'. Would be solved if I had the answer to question 2.

var myMess:String = '';
var myTitle:String = '';

function confirmDelete(){
    selectedAlt = list_dg.selectedItem.ALT_CODE;
    myMess = "Are you sure you want to delete this ALT code: "+selectedAlt+"?";
    myTitle = "Confirm Delete ALT Code Function                                                    ";
    var alertBox:Object = Alert.show(myMess,myTitle,Alert.YES|Alert.NO,this,deleteConfirmHandler);
    alertBox.setSize(450, 125);
}
/*********************************************************************************

// HANDLER FOR CONFIRM DELETE ALT ALERT WINDOW
deleteConfirmHandler = function(evt_obj:Object):Void {   
    var myAnswer = evt_obj.detail;
    // returns 1 if yes, 2 if no.
    if (myAnswer == 1){
            deleteAlt();
    }
    else {   
        altDetail.moveAssign_btn.enabled       = false;
        altDetail.moveAvail_btn.enabled        = false;
        altDetail.avail_list.selectedIndex     = null;
        altDetail.assigned_list.selectedIndex  = null;
    }
}