hamster-applet doesn't show anything at panel

This happened to me as well. With the thin line instead of the hamster text field, the context menu of hamster is not accessible at all.
Therefore I have stopped the hamster applet process in a terminal with command 'kill -9 <Process ID>'. After this an error window has opened and I confirmed there that the hamster applet process should not be started again.

When I newly added the hamster applet subsequently it showed up the right way.

I have followed your steps but it hasn't worked for me,

But I think I know the reason, I have run "/usr/lib/hamster-applet/hamster-applet -w" and look at the output:

Data Dir: /usr/share/hamster-applet
SELECT version FROM version None
select count(*) from categories None
Binding shortcut <Super>H to popup hamster
Running with options: {'do_trace': False, 'standalone': True}
/usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/hamster/applet.py:337: GtkWarning: gtk_cell_layout_set_attributes: assertion `GTK_IS_CELL_RENDERER (cell)' failed
  self.activity_list.set_property("text-column", 2)

                   SELECT a.id AS id,
                          a.start_time AS start_time,
                          a.end_time AS end_time,
                          a.description as description,
                          b.name AS name, b.id as activity_id,
                          coalesce(c.name, ?) as category, c.id as category_id
                     FROM facts a
                LEFT JOIN activities b ON a.activity_id = b.id
                LEFT JOIN categories c on b.category_id = c.id
                    WHERE date(a.start_time) >= ? and date(a.start_time) <= ?
                 ORDER BY a.start_time
         (u'Sin clasificar', datetime.date(2009, 9, 8), datetime.date(2009, 9, 8))

                   SELECT lower(a.name) as name, b.name as category
                     FROM activities a
                LEFT JOIN categories b on coalesce(b.id, -1) = a.category_id
                    WHERE deleted is null
                 ORDER BY lower(a.name)
         None
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/hamster-applet/hamster-applet", line 134, in <module>
    build_window()
  File "/usr/lib/hamster-applet/hamster-applet", line 75, in build_window
    applet_factory(applet, None)
  File "/usr/lib/hamster-applet/hamster-applet", line 64, in applet_factory
    hamster.applet.HamsterApplet(applet)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/hamster/applet.py", line 267, in __init__
    self.refresh_menu()
  File "/usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/hamster/applet.py", line 479, in refresh_menu
    all_activities = storage.get_autocomplete_activities()
  File "/usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/hamster/storage.py", line 65, in get_autocomplete_activities
    return self.__get_autocomplete_activities()
  File "/usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/hamster/db.py", line 407, in __get_autocomplete_activities
    activities = self.fetchall(query)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/hamster/db.py", line 489, in fetchall
    res = cur.fetchall()
sqlite3.OperationalError: Could not decode to UTF-8 column 'name' with text 'gestiã³n'

I don't known how I am going to fix this, but at least I have a clue

On the ground of your debugging information there should be an decoding problem. It happens when the hamster-applet is querying the already existing activities for the autocompletion feature of hamster during the startup.
There is data in your database which is not stored in the unicode format UTF-8 and the hamster program cannot handle this.

Take a look on the table 'activities' in your database file 'hamster.db' with the SQLite data browser (a GUI for SQLite). You can install it with 'sudo aptitude install sqlitebrowser'. Maybe you can solve your problem manually.

I've fixed manually the special characters with sqlitebrowser and hamster applet works ok now.

I think that this bug can be closed but I don't know which could be the appropiate state.

I have the same problem after upgrading to Maverick (only a thin line appears on the Gnome Panel and I can't run the Time Tracker app from the menu). I ran "/usr/lib/hamster-applet/hamster-applet -w" and got the following (version info is below):

** (hamster-applet:7315): WARNING **: Trying to register gtype 'WnckWindowState' as enum when in fact it is of type 'GFlags'

** (hamster-applet:7315): WARNING **: Trying to register gtype 'WnckWindowActions' as enum when in fact it is of type 'GFlags'

** (hamster-applet:7315): WARNING **: Trying to register gtype 'WnckWindowMoveResizeMask' as enum when in fact it is of type 'GFlags'
2010-11-16 16:26:22,494 ERROR: Introspect error on :1.217:/org/gnome/Hamster: dbus.exceptions.DBusException: org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.NoReply: Message did not receive a reply (timeout by message bus)
2010-11-16 16:26:22,501 ERROR: Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/hamster-applet/hamster-applet", line 120, in <module>
    applet_factory(applet, None)
  File "/usr/lib/hamster-applet/hamster-applet", line 35, in applet_factory
    hamster_applet = HamsterApplet(applet)
  File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.6/hamster/applet.py", line 203, in __init__
    self.new_name = widgets.ActivityEntry()
  File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.6/hamster/widgets/activityentry.py", line 102, in __init__
    self.populate_suggestions()
  File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.6/hamster/widgets/activityentry.py", line 225, in populate_suggestions
    self.activities = runtime.storage.get_activities(input_activity.activity_name)
  File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.6/hamster/client.py", line 135, in get_activities
    return self._to_dict(('name', 'category'), self.conn.GetActivities(search))
  File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.6/dbus/proxies.py", line 68, in __call__
    return self._proxy_method(*args, **keywords)
  File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.6/dbus/proxies.py", line 140, in __call__
    **keywords)
  File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.6/dbus/connection.py", line 620, in call_blocking
    message, timeout)
DBusException: org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.ServiceUnknown: The name :1.217 was not provided by any .service files

Version info: sudo apt-cache show hamster-applet:

Package: hamster-applet
Priority: optional
Section: universe/gnome
Installed-Size: 2988
Maintainer: Ubuntu Desktop Team <email address hidden>
Original-Maintainer: Pedro Fragoso <email address hidden>
Architecture: i386
Version: 2.31.92-0ubuntu2
Depends: gconf2 (>= 2.28.1-2), python (>= 2.5), python-support (>= 0.90.0), python-cairo, python-gtk2 (>= 2.12.0), python-gconf, python-gnomeapplet (>= 2.10.0), python-evolution (>= 2.10.0), python-dbus, python-gobject (>= 2.14.0), python-gnome2, python-wnck
Recommends: python-notify
Filename: pool/universe/h/hamster-applet/hamster-applet_2.31.92-0ubuntu2_i386.deb
Size: 418546
MD5sum: d5cd72d36449cc404f37d617356b17cb
SHA1: e2b93a8ee98426fe8caf58c0632a82ecc5232470
SHA256: ed622d054504086f2427c9e544e45387356d03ef5db1cb8f562e208c0bc64a02
Description: time tracking applet for GNOME
 Project Hamster helps you to keep track of how much time you spend on various
 activities during the day. Whenever you move from one task to...

I reported this at https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=635052 and was told:

a) that it looks like a packaging error - any ideas on how to resolve this?

b) that the latest stable release is 2.32.1 - so that depends on https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/hamster-applet/+bug/676009

I think I can help with this. I just had exactly the same problem of the disappearing line.

I used "samford ss - intro and e&e" as the task name (which appeared with the - Unsorted on the end when double clicked.

For some reason this task name consistently causes the error. I'm not sure what is wrong with the task label but its a 100% repro - Everything works fine if I use a different task name but there is something in this particular task name that results in the task box appearing blank and hence the thin line problem on the panel.

the '&' is the obvious suspect given this thread but it usually works fine.

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.