HitTest for objects not yet on Stage - actionscript-3

Question

I need to add a MovieClip to stage, the limitation being that it should only be added to an empty area on the stage. The stage itself either contains complex shapes or is manipulable by the user i.e. he can drag/move objects to change the empty area. The hitTest and hitTestObject methods need DisplayObject already available on the stage. What is the right way to go - the only solution I can imagine is having added my object on the stage and then repeatedly doing hit tests?
[Imagine it to something like adding sprites in a video game - they must spawn in empty regions; if they pop out from inside of each other, then it'll look really odd.]

Answer 1

Well, when you create a new class, just turn it off with a variable and set the visibility to false, then loop until there is no hitTest.
A silly example:
public class someClass extends Sprite
{
private var objectsOnStage:Array;
public function someClass(objectsArray:Array) {
objectsOnStage = objectsArray;
visible = false;
addEventListener(Event.ADDED_TO_STAGE, init);
}
private function init(e:Event){
removeEventListener(Event.ADDED_TO_STAGE, init);
addEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME, SEARCH);
}
private function SEARCH(e:Event) {
var doesHit:Boolean = false;
x = Math.round(Math.random() * (550 - 0)) + 0;
y = Math.round(Math.random() * (400 - 0)) + 0;
for (var i:int = 0; i < objectsOnStage; i++) {
if (doesHit) break;
if (this.hitTestObject(objectsOnStage[i])) {
doesHit = true;
}
}
if (doesHit) return;
placedInit();
}
private function placedInit() {
visible = true;
removeEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME, SEARCH);
//now init the stuff you want.
}
}

Answer 2

You just check if bounding boxes of both clips overlaps. Like this:
import flash.geom.Rectangle;
import flash.display.MovieClip;
// create simple movie clips that has a rectangle shape inside
var sym1 : MovieClip = new Sym1();
var sym2 : MovieClip = new Sym2();
// get a rectanle of both clipt
var boundingBox1 : Rectangle = sym1.getBounds(this);
var boundingBox2 : Rectangle = sym2.getBounds(this);
// check if bounding boxes of both movie clips overlaps
// so it works like hitTestObject() method
trace( boundingBox1.intersects( boundingBox2) )

Answer 3

I know this post is super old, but in case it helps anybody --
If you need to do a hit test on a movieclip that isn't on the stage. A workaround is to rasterize it to a bitmap first.
var bitmapData:BitmapData = new BitmapData(mc.width, mc.height, true, 0x0000000);
bitmapData.draw(mc);
if (bitmapData.getPixel32(x, y) > 0) {
// Hit true.
}