PSD file fails to open

[graemeNPS]

When I tried to open a client's PSD file with imdisplay.exe (by drag and drop in Windows), this message was displayed in four languages, centered in the image area: "This layered Photoshop file was not saved with a composite image." The image did not appear.

GIMP 2.6.8 opened the file successfully; IrfanView and Quick TIme Picture Viewer opened it with the above message, no image.

In Photoshop CS2, I resaved the file, accepting defaults, including "maximize compatibility" and then imdisplay and the others could open the resaved psd file.

We use IM as 8bit static libs in a dll to extract preview and thumbnails from clients' images and that process yields the erroneous result with this file; message, no image. Could you please explain what the message means, and why IM cannot process the original file?

thanks,
graeme

[Bonzo]

As you know a psd file is made of layers so image.psd[0] is the image with all the layers combined.
The background could be on the next layer so would be image.psd[1] and the text could be on the next layer so would be image.psd[2]

Could this be the problem ? Would flattening the image help ?

Here are some notes of mine http://www.rubblewebs.co.uk/imagemagick/psd.php