Creating Grid in as3 - performance

Question

I am trying to make to grid to squares using as3.
I am using nested for loops to create the grid.
import flash.display.Shape;
import flash.display.MovieClip;
var n=10;
var myClip = new MovieClip;
stage.addChild(myClip);
for (var i = 0; i < n * 10; i += 10) {
for (var j = 0; j < n * 10; j += 10) {
var _shape = new Shape;
myClip.addChild(_shape);
_shape.graphics.lineStyle(1);
_shape.graphics.beginFill(0xcccccc);
_shape.graphics.drawRect(i, j, 10, 10);
_shape.graphics.endFill();
}
}
I am applying Zooming and Panning Gestures on myClip. For this Grid size everything works fine. As soon as I increase the value of n, it starts lagging
My game requires a bigger grid. Please help

Answer 1

I'll show some ideas as code, my AS3 is a bit rusty but perhaps it helps.
You can reduce the number of Shape instances or draw the vector based grid graphic to a Bitmap. Since you are zooming and panning it you'll want to smooth it. Depending on performance and how much you zoom you also may want to draw the bitmap at a higher resolution than initially used. See comments in the below.
import flash.display.Shape;
import flash.display.MovieClip;
var n=10;
// do you actually need dynamic binding or a timeline in this?
// if not (also if you don't know what it means) do use the Sprite class instead
var myClip = new MovieClip;
stage.addChild(myClip);
// if you don't need individual shapes move this out of the for loop
// your logic with all of the shapes having the same origin suggests this might be so
var _shape = new Shape;
myClip.addChild(_shape);
for (var i = 0; i < n * 10; i += 10) {
for (var j = 0; j < n * 10; j += 10) {
_shape.graphics.lineStyle(1);
_shape.graphics.beginFill(0xcccccc);
_shape.graphics.drawRect(i, j, 10, 10);
_shape.graphics.endFill();
}
}
// then we can draw the grid to a bitmap
// since you are scaling it I'm drawing it a 300% resolution
var _bmd:BitmapData = new BitmapData(_shape.width*3, _shape.height*3, true, 0);
var _bit:Bitmap = new Bitmap(_bmd);
myClip.addChild(_bit);
_shape.width*=3;
_shape.height*=3;
_bmd.draw(stage);
_bit.smoothing = true;
_bit.width/=3;
_bit.height/=3;
// and remove the vector shape so it won't be rendered
myClip.removeChild(_shape);
// if need be it can be redrawn later