level selection menu with different levels similar to cut the rope game - cocos2d-iphone

Question

I want a level selection screen in cocos2d as in the cut the rope game ie. without any sliding effects.
The site I found most helpful so far is "level selection screen with scrolling"
At the moment I am using the following for getting the menu items but not able to position them
for (int i=0; i<levelCount; i++) {
item1 = [CCMenuItemImage itemFromNormalImage:#"levButton.png" selectedImage:#"levButton.png" target:self selector:#selector(playnow)];
item1.tag = i;
[levelMenu addChild:item1];
}

Answer 1

If you need to position your items a grid manner, you could do it like this:
int realIndex = 0;
for (int x = 0; x < numberOfHorizontalItems; x++) {
for (int y = 0; y < numberOfVerticalItems; y++) {
item1 = [CCMenuItemImage itemFromNormalImage:#"levButton.png" selectedImage:#"levButton.png" target:self selector:#selector(playnow)];
item1.tag = realIndex;
item1.position = ccp(x * (item1.contentSize.width + 6),-(y * (item1.contentSize.height + 6)));
[levelMenu addChild:item1];
realIndex++;
}
}
levelMenu.position = ccp(0,0) // <-- Adjust coordinates.
The trick is to use 2 For loops, one for X and another Y positioning.

Answer 2

You can create a vertical line of buttons, as you are doing with
item1 = [CCMenuItemImage itemFromNormalImage:#"levButton.png"
selectedImage:#"levButton.png" target:self
selector:#selector(playnow)]
add all items in a CCMenu, add a vertical padding and position the menu
CCMenu *menu = [CCMenu menuWithItems:item1, item2, nil];
[menu alignItemsVerticallyWithPadding:20.f];
menu.position = ccp(x,y);
You can create 1 menu for each column, and add all button in that column in that menu.
You only need to position the CCMenu, positioning of the item inside the menu follow your rules (verticallyWithPadding for example)