      *  Proxy to getHeaderHeight() for PanelSkin
      *  since we can't change its function signature
      */
-    mx_internal function getHeaderHeightProxy():Number
-    {
-        return getHeaderHeight();
+    mx_internal function getHeaderHeightProxy(useDummyString:Boolean = false):Number
+    {
+        var headerHeight:Number = getStyle("headerHeight");
+        
+        if (isNaN(headerHeight))
+            headerHeight = measureHeaderText(useDummyString).height + HEADER_PADDING;
+        
+        return headerHeight;
     }
 
     /**

            metrics = textFormat.measureText(titleTextField.text, false);
            textWidth = metrics.width;
            textHeight = metrics.height;
        }
        
        if (statusTextField && statusTextField.text)

     *  Returns a Rectangle containing the largest piece of header
     *  text (can be either the title or status, whichever is bigger).
     */
    private function measureHeaderText(useDummyString:Boolean = false):Rectangle
    {
        var textWidth:Number = 20;
        var textHeight:Number = 14;
