
Hi Carsten, 

Carsten Dominik <dominik@science.uva.nl> writes:

> Hi Matt, how about a backtrace, and maybe you can try
> to figure out which line in your diary file causes the problem?
>
> - Carsten

Absolutely. I've put the results below, along with a sample diary file
I ran the test on and my configuration. I'm copying a backtrace for
the first time, so feel free to tell me if I've failed to include
something.

First, before I include the results, I believe I've identified the
culprit: it's the syntax for generic monthly events in the diary,
e.g.,

*/3 Monthly meeting

When I remove this line from the sample diary file, agenda column view
works fine. 

(By the way, this was the impetus I needed to switch all my
appointments to org-mode, since it's so nice to be able to add notes
to events in org-mode files.)

Best,
Matt

---begin Backtrace---

Debugger entered--Lisp error: (wrong-type-argument stringp nil)
  looking-at(nil)
  org-entry-properties(#<marker at 1 in diary>)
  byte-code("ÆÇ!È `ÉÉ12ÊË!> > 2Ë234Ì4!3L* ÍÎ Ï\"^ Ð\fÑÒ#Y rÓ\f!q5)2 ÊÔ!v ÕÔ!v v 2 ÖeÏ\" Í\fÏ\"Ð\fÑÒ# rÓ\f!q5)22 52Ô234Ì4!3L*×2!6¿ Ø7!ebm=Í`Ï\"Ò Í`Ù\"6Ú\f!Û8\"ñ ÜÝ\nAí Þ\"9Í`ß\"à	!áâ	Gãä	%8	BBÉ:: :bn(å)âæå`\"\\*B1B1çè!Ã 1é21\"ê34Ì4!3L*ë ìÊí!d-34Ì4!3L*wíâ!îï1\";ð1!." [org-columns-begin-marker d a p m maxwidths org-verify-version columns org-columns-remove-overlays nil boundp org-agenda-overriding-columns-format make-variable-buffer-local get-text-property point-at-bol org-hd-marker org-entry-get "COLUMNS" t marker-buffer org-columns-current-fmt local-variable-p next-single-property-change org-columns-compile-format org-agenda-colview-compute org-marker org-entry-properties assoc string-match "\\S-" "" duration org-minutes-to-hh:mm-string put-text-property 0 face org-warning 1 count-lines beginning-of-line 2 org-columns-get-autowidth-alist org-columns-current-maxwidths org-columns-display-here-title org-columns-flyspell-was-active flyspell-mode mapc #[(x) "Á@!ÂA!" [x goto-line org-columns-display-here] 2] org-agenda-colview-summarize cache ...] 7)
* org-agenda-columns()
  call-interactively(org-agenda-columns)

---end Backtrace---

---begin diary file---

*/6 Monthly meeting
Thursday Weekly discussion
%%(and (= 1 (calendar-day-of-week date)) (diary-block 1 12 2009 2 28 2009)) 3:30pm-5:00pm Weekly meeting
%%(diary-anniversary 3 5 1975) James turns %d
%%(diary-block 1 19 2009 1 22 2009) Chicago trip 
Jan 7, 2009 2:00pm meeting

---end diary file----

---begin diary configuration---

(setq diary-file "~/diary")
(setq cal-tex-diary t)
(setq cal-tex-holidays nil)

(setq view-diary-entries-initially t)
(setq mark-diary-entries-in-calendar t)
(setq number-of-diary-entries 1)
(add-hook 'diary-display-hook 'fancy-diary-display)
(add-hook 'list-diary-entries-hook 'sort-diary-entries t)
(add-hook 'today-visible-calendar-hook 'calendar-mark-today)

---end diary configuration---