Thank you Robert for your help. With your help I created the following which works:
myFeatureLayer = new FeatureLayer(url_of_myLayer);
myFeatureLayer.addEventListener(LayerEvent.LOAD,getLayerDetails);
and then:
private function getLayerDetails(event:LayerEvent):void
{
var thisLayer:FeatureLayer = event.layer as FeatureLayer;
myLayerDetails = thisLayer.layerDetails;
myLayerFieldsArray = myLayerDetails.fields;
if (myLayerFieldsArray.length > 0)
{
for (var j:int = 0; j < myLayerFieldsArray.length; j++)
{
myFieldsList.addItem(myLayerFieldsArray.name);
}
}
}