Ref Property Gone?

[Stanback]

I am trying to use the 'ref' property on components for injecting back references like I could with Ext3. This was used on a lot of my previous code to get instances to various form fields that needed special handling. The nice thing was the ../ notation that allowed references to be placed where it was convenient.

Here is the method in Ext3's Ext.Component that handled it:

    initRef : function(){
        /**
         * @cfg {String} ref
         * <p>A path specification, relative to the Component's <code>{@link #ownerCt}</code>
         * specifying into which ancestor Container to place a named reference to this Component.</p>
         * <p>The ancestor axis can be traversed by using '/' characters in the path.
         * For example, to put a reference to a Toolbar Button into <i>the Panel which owns the Toolbar</i>:</p><pre><code>
var myGrid = new Ext.grid.EditorGridPanel({
    title: 'My EditorGridPanel',
    store: myStore,
    colModel: myColModel,
    tbar: [{
        text: 'Save',
        handler: saveChanges,
        disabled: true,
        ref: '../saveButton'
    }],
    listeners: {
        afteredit: function() {
//          The button reference is in the GridPanel
            myGrid.saveButton.enable();
        }
    }
});
</code></pre>
         * <p>In the code above, if the <code>ref</code> had been <code>'saveButton'</code>
         * the reference would have been placed into the Toolbar. Each '/' in the <code>ref</code>
         * moves up one level from the Component's <code>{@link #ownerCt}</code>.</p>
         * <p>Also see the <code>{@link #added}</code> and <code>{@link #removed}</code> events.</p>
         */
        if(this.ref && !this.refOwner){
            var levels = this.ref.split('/'),
                last = levels.length,
                i = 0,
                t = this;

            while(t && i < last){
                t = t.ownerCt;
                ++i;
            }
            if(t){
                t[this.refName = levels[--i]] = this;
                /**
                 * @type Ext.Container
                 * @property refOwner
                 * The ancestor Container into which the {@link #ref} reference was inserted if this Component
                 * is a child of a Container, and has been configured with a <code>ref</code>.
                 */
                this.refOwner = t;
            }
        }
    },

    removeRef : function() {
        if (this.refOwner && this.refName) {
            delete this.refOwner[this.refName];
            delete this.refOwner;
        }
    }, 

Is this planned for Ext4 or was it intentionally removed?

If it has been removed, what is the best-practice alternative? There are times when validators and listeners aren't enough and manually instantiating is messy. Setting itemId on the sub-component and using Ext.getCmp(itemId) works but seems cumbersome and requires itemIds to be globally unique. For form fields, I can use Form.findField(name) but I was under the impression that it created extra overhead.

[kaigan]

Have a look at ComponentQuery and down/up/child on Containers