Steven Zahm@ Dave
RE: Do you think your connections directory plugin can get this result?
I guess the short answer is, yes, you could do this with Connections. But, not with out of the box addons. I think you could get close though. I’ll try to answer the in more specifics…
RE: The image shows the red part on the left as a directory search, sort, filter area.
The premium template all include the ability to filter by category and do a keyword search. I do have an advanced search addon I do offer to those that request it and have purchased either the Extension Pro Pack or the Pro Pack. YOu can see it in action on this live third party site:
This is somewhat close the search in your screenshot. The keyword field in the premium templates would actually cover the company name the member sells fields (assuming the later is register as custom text fields). So you would not need separate fields for them.
RE: The site also needs to have members only content, so each of the businesses in the directory will have access to this content. I don’t want to have to add each of 200 businesses to a directory then repeat the process for a membership plugin.
Well, I would use the CSV Import addon to do the initial directory population. I would then use that same CSV file and use that to import into you memship plug of choice (assuming it has a CSV import addon/feature).
You would then use the Link extension so when your members log their user/membership account is linked to their directory entry. Afterwards they will be able to manage their own directory.
After the initial ingest, you would setup your membership plugin to handle the user registration and such. After that process is complete, that user/member would then be able to add their own entry and maintain it.
RE: This needs to handle things like video and images too.
The notes and bio fields do support images and videos if you as an admin add them, but for security these are not available to the user. I think, I would have to test, the user could still add their own image tags. But generally this is not something the average user would know.
Note sure if this helps or not, but I hope it does!