@ Jamain
RE: The View All Button is not working if you choose to show an empty category.
I’m sorry, I do not understand what you mean here. Could you give more details and perhaps link to an example so I can see?
RE: Does the View all link only work for each category or for the overall directory
The answers, depends… the view all link will show the entire directory if you have no shortcode options limiting what is displayed. So, if you are using the [connections]
shortcode with no options, yes, it’ll display all the entries by name. If you have used shortcode options such as the category shortcode option, then the view all link will be limited to the category defined by the option.
RE: We want them to either search or click View All to see the listings. What’s the best way to accomplish this?
Sorry, but Connections is designed to show results them allow the user to refine what is displayed to them. The closest solution available is covered in this tutorial on Show No Entries Until User Performs a Search. As noted on the tutorial this is not supported nor has it been thoroughly tested, so your results may vary. That said, many users do use it to their satisfaction.
Hope this helps!