ActionScript 3.0 :: Different Ways To Build Maps/levels For Flash Game?

Ive got some high level questions about vector graphics. From what I understand, when you draw stuff in the Flash IDE, you are creating vector graphics. Is there any way to view the actual XML (or whatever code) that is generated 'under the hood' ? Is there any way to save the drawing as a .SVG file or something? Ive looked at a few free SVG drawing tools, but I'm wondering why not just use Flash directly, instead of creating my vector drawing in a separate program, and then trying to import it ?

Im thinking of different ways to build maps/levels for my flash game, and right now I'm thinking that building the levels out of vector shapes seems to offer the best features in terms of fast/easy collision detection, fast map creation, small level size, etc.The problem is, once I draw a level in Flash, how do I break the individual shapes apart (rectangles, lines, circles, whatever), into useable pieces I can use in the code? For example suppose I simply draw a big rectangle for a super-simple level. How do I grab the coordinates of the corners for use in my actionscript code? And how do I determine that the shape is a rectangle, and not a general polygon or just an unclosed set of lines?

For example I imagine the SVG code for a rectangle looks something like this:RECT 120, 60, 400, 500

But where can I grab that text from using actionscript, If I drew that rectangle in the flash authoring tool?