HTML Code in Widget

[thunderclap82]

I have AJAX Chat installed on my site, and there is code someone shared that allows the number of users using chat, as well as listing the names, that appear in the What's Going On section. (See here.) It involves a plugin and template change and, once done, works. I'd like to use this code in a Widget on the front page but no matter how I alter the code it doesn't work in the widget. The code for the templates is:

<!-- chat users -->
<div id="wgo_onlineusers" class="wgo_subblock section">
<h3 class="blocksubhead"><img src="{vb:stylevar imgdir_misc}/users_online.png" alt="Users In Chat" />{vb:raw num_chatting} Users In Chat</h3>

<div>
<p>{vb:raw chat_userlist}</p>
</div>
</div>
<!-- end chat users -->

Basically, in the widget, it doesn't convert the num_chatting or chat_userlist. Is it because widgets can't handle these calls? Is there a way to get this code working in a static HTML widget?