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Documentation: VK Community Widget for Joomla from iws.by

Documentation update date: 28.09.2025

Documentation is relevant for version: 1.1.2

Compatibility

System Requirements

System requirements differ for Joomla 3, Joomla 4, Joomla 5, and Joomla 6, so please refer to the section corresponding to your version.

Joomla 3

Joomla: 3.0.0 - 3.10.x.
PHP: 5.3 and above.
MySQL: 5.1 and above.
MariaDB: 10.1 and above.
PostgreSQL: 8.3.18 and above.
Virtual memory: 128Мб and above.

Joomla 4

Joomla: 4.0.0 - 4.x.x.
PHP: 7.2 and above.
MySQL: 5.6 and above.
MariaDB: 10.3.35 and above.
PostgreSQL: 11.0 and above.
Virtual memory: 128Мб and above.

Joomla 5 and Joomla 6

Joomla: 5.0.0 - 5.x.x. / 6.0.0 - 6.x.x.
PHP: 8.1 and above.
MySQL: 8.0.11 and above.
MariaDB: 10.4 and above.
PostgreSQL: 12.0 and above.
Virtual memory: 128Мб and above.

Installing the module

The module installation process is slightly different for Joomla 3 and Joomla 4/5/6, so please refer to the section corresponding to your version.

Installation for Joomla 3

Download the module package.
Go to the Joomla 3 administration panel.
Open “Extensions” -> “Extension Manager”.
Click on the “Upload Package” tab.
Select the downloaded module package and click “Upload and Install”.

Installation for Joomla 4, Joomla 5, and Joomla 6

Download the module package.
Go to the Joomla 3 administration panel 4/5/6.
Open “System” -> “Extensions”.
Click on the “Upload Package” tab.
Drag and drop the downloaded module package into the download area or click “Select Package”.
Click “Upload and Install”.

Obtaining a VK Community ID

Before you start setting up the module, you need to get the ID of your community, for which the widget will be displayed. Go to your community page on the social network VK. On the right side of the page that opens, find the menu item “Statistics”.

Pay attention to the address bar in your browser, it contains the identifier of the VK community.

The number 111111111 is the unique numeric identifier of the VK community. Write it down. Next, you need to configure the community VK, because without settings will not work chat with the community.

Configuring the module

The module settings are located in different places depending on the Joomla version. Please use the paths below to find the module:

Joomla 3: “Extensions” -> “Module Manager”
Joomla 4/5/6: “Content” -> “Site modules”

In the list of modules, find “IWS.BY VK Community Widget“. Click on the name of the module and you will see a page with the available settings. Consider each field below.

License key

Type: Text field

Description: Enter the license key obtained when purchasing the module on the IWS.BY website. Without the key in this field, the module will not be able to access the update server and update automatically.

Example: IWSBY-111-111-111

Connect Open API

Type: Segmented buttons

Description: This option is responsible for connecting the public API of the VK social network to your site. If you already have the public VK API connected, then select «No» in the option. Without the public API, widgets from the VK social network will not work on your site.

Possible values:

Default: Yes

Community ID

Type: Numeric field

Description: In the field, enter the numeric identifier of the community in the VK social network, the information about which you want to display in the widget. How to find the community ID is described on the page above, in the section «Obtaining a Vkontakte Community ID».

Example: 127607773

Display mode

Type: Segmented buttons

Description: This option is responsible for the mode of information displayed on the community widget. There are a total of three options for displaying information. Let’s look at each one.

Possible values:

Members – the widget will display members who are members of the community.
News – the widget will display a feed with the latest entries from the community.
Only title – the widget will display only the name of the community with a subscribe button.

Default: Members

Do not use cover art

Type: Flag

Description: If you check this option, the cover art uploaded to the community will not be displayed in the widget.

Default: Not installed

Advanced mode

Type: Flag

Description: This option is only available if “News” is selected in the “Display Mode” option. If the box is checked, the information in the widget will be displayed in advanced mode.

Default: Not installed

Widget width

Type: Segmented buttons

Description: The option is responsible for the type of width applied to the widget.

Possible values:

Automatic — the width of the widget will be equal to the width of the block.
Manual — the width will be set to the widget from the field “Width”.

Default: Automatic

Width

Type: Numeric field

Description: The field is filled with a fixed width of the widget, which is specified as a number in pixels.

Example: 300

Widget height

Type: Segmented buttons

Description: This option is only available if “News” is selected in the “Display Mode” option. The option is responsible for the type of height applied to the widget.

Possible values:

Automatic — the height of the widget will be the same as the parent unit.
Manual — the height will be set to the widget from the field “Height”.

Default: Automatic

Height

Type: Numeric field

Description: The field is populated with the fixed height of the widget, which is specified as a number in pixels.

Example: 300

Background color

Type: Color selection

Description: The option specifies the background color in the block with the widget. The value is specified in HEX format.

Example: #ffffff

Text color

Type: Color selection

Description: The option specifies the color of the text in the block with the widget. The value is specified in HEX format.

Example: #000000

Button color

Type: Color selection

Description: The option specifies the color of the buttons in the block with the widget. The value is specified in HEX format.

Example: #5581b8

Module Activation

To activate the module in the CMS Joomla need to do several actions:

Select the desired position of the template, where the module should be displayed on the site, in the «Position» option, on the right side of the module settings page.
In the option below «Status» you must select the «Published» value.
Next, you need to bind the module to the pages of the site. In the upper part of the settings on the module page, click on the «Menu assignment» tab.
A tab opens with a single option «Module assignment». Select the value depending on the pages on which you want the module to be displayed. In the example, select «On all pages» – the module will be available on all pages of the site.
Click the «Save» button. The settings will be saved and the module will be displayed on the site.

Error update module

If you have an error when updating a module in the control panel of Joomla, then this section of the instructions is necessary for you. Usually the error when updating looks like this:

This error appears in several cases, they are all related to the module’s license key.

1) You have not filled in the license key in the module settings.

Go to the module settings and check if the «License key» field is filled in. Without a license key it is not possible to download updates. There is a time when you added a license key, but CMS Joomla did not save it correctly, for this module settings after entering a license key, click «Save» and then click «Save and Close».

2) Your license key has expired.

To check the expiration date of your license key, go to https://iws.by/en/my-account/view-license-keys. In the list of license keys, find the key of your module and in the «Valid until» column check its relevance. If the license key has expired, it is not possible to get updates. To resolve this issue: place a new order and get a current license key.

3) The license key is not valid on your current site.

Our update system is designed so that the first time you access the update server, the license key is assigned to the site that accessed it. In case you try to use the license key on several sites, the updates will be available only for one site. If you need updates for multiple sites, make a purchase of multiple license keys from the site. Sites without license keys will not be able to receive updates.

Attention! If you have changed the address of the site and can not download updates, write to us at support@iws.by with the new address of the site, we will update the data on our update server and within 24 hours you will be able to receive updates.

Support

IWS.BY support service for questions regarding our products is available via email support@iws.by.

All available support options are available on the Support page: Go to.

The support service also responds on the official support forum iws.by: Go to.