Help with thread preview...

[Moncha]

I've made a custom template for a recent posts widget using a modification of the "vbcms_widget_recentposts_page" template and the "threadbit" template. I have two elements that aren't working, the thread preview and the thread views. If I change the:

<div class="threadinfo" title="{vb:raw thread.preview}">

to:

<div class="threadinfo" title="{vb:raw thread.previewtext}">

the preview works, but the special characters show and breaks the page. left alone the preview doesn't show.

Is there any way to make this work correctly??

<div class="cms_widget">
	<div class="block">
		<div class="cms_widget_header">
			<h3><img alt="" src="{vb:stylevar imgdir_cms}/widget-forum.png" /> {vb:raw title}</h3>
		</div>
		<div class="cms_widget_content widget_content">
		<vb:each from="threads" key="threadid" value="thread">
		<div class="threadinfo" title="{vb:raw thread.preview}"><!-- From the threadbit template -->
			<div class="cms_widget_post_bit widget_post_bit">
				<div class="cms_widget_post_userinfo widget_post_userinfo">
				<vb:if condition="$thread['postusername']!='guestuser' AND $vboptions['avatarenabled']">
					<div class="cms_widget_post_useravatar widget_post_useravatar">
						<a class="comments_member_avatar_link" href="{vb:link member, {vb:raw thread}}">
						<vb:if condition="$thread['avatarurl']" >
							<img src="{vb:raw thread.avatarurl}" alt="{vb:raw thread.postusername}" />
						<vb:else />
							<img src="{vb:stylevar imgdir_misc}/unknown.gif" alt="{vb:raw thread.postusername}" />
						</vb:if>
						</a>
					</div>
				</vb:if>
				</div>
					<div class="cms_widget_post_comment<vb:if condition="!$vboptions['avatarenabled']">_noavatar</vb:if> widget_post_comment<vb:if condition="!$vboptions['avatarenabled']">_noavatar</vb:if>">
												<h4 class="cms_widget_post_header widget_post_header">
							<a href="{vb:link thread, {vb:raw thread}}">{vb:raw thread.title}</a>
						</h4>
						<div>
{vb:rawphrase replies_x_views_y, {vb:raw thread.replycount}, {vb:raw thread.views}}<!-- From the threadbit template -->
						</div>
						{vb:rawphrase thread_starter}:
						<vb:if condition="thread.postusername == 'guestuser'">
							{vb:raw thread.postusername}
						<vb:else />
							<a href="{vb:link member, {vb:raw thread}}">{vb:raw thread.postusername}</a>
						</vb:if>
						Last Post: {vb:raw thread.lastpostdate}<vb:if condition="!$thread['detailedtime']">, <span class="time">{vb:raw thread.lastposttime}</span></vb:if>

						<vb:if condition="$thread['lastposterid']" >
							{vb:rawphrase by_x, {vb:link member, {vb:raw thread}, null, 'lastposterid', 'lastposter'}, {vb:raw thread.lastposter}}
						<vb:else />
							{vb:rawphrase by_x_guest, {vb:raw thread.lastposter}}
						</vb:if>
						<a href="{vb:raw thread.lastposturl}"><img class="inlineimg" src="{vb:stylevar imgdir_button}/lastpost-{vb:stylevar right}.png" alt="{vb:rawphrase go_to_last_post}" border="0" /></a>
						<vb:comment><br/>
						{vb:rawphrase replies_x_views_y, {vb:raw thread.replycount}, {vb:raw thread.views}}</vb:comment>
					</div>
			</div>
		</vb:each>
		</div>
	</div>
</div>
</div>