Support for additional compression formats was added. Besides LZRW and other simple compression formats, which were supported already in previous releases, two new major compression formats are available: On the one hand ZLlib support, which is similar to the known implementation with C++ object files - except that it is a true native Pascal solution which was also ported to VCL.NET. Using ZLIB compression any kind of data (including TStream objects) is possible. On the other hand support of compressing/decompressing CAB files was added.

The LMD 2009 Runtime includes native support for PNG files (as TGraphic implementation and with TLMDPNGImageList control). PNG files can be used in your apps like any other TGraphic formats like TBitmap or TJpeg.
A new TLMDBitmap class was introduced, which is derived from TBitmap and mainly utilizes the Windows built-in OleLoadPicture function. GIF, JPEG, Icon or Bitmap Files can be loaded without additional special VCL libs (features are not available In VCL.NET, because support of different graphic formats is available through ImageFormat in TBitmap property already).

The LMD Validator framework introduces a set of components which allow implementation of professional-level client-side validation in an elegant and simple way without writing much code (often without any code at all). The two main tasks taken over by the validator and error provider controls are: To check for validity a value entered by a user into some input control and to provide feedback about validation results (e.g. to indicate an error) in some way.

The support of System Themes was improved in LMD-Tools . Like in recent VCL versions many LMD controls support ParentBackground property, which allows transparent display in themed mode (when CtlXP/Themed mode is enabled. This transparency feature is different from the one provided with Transparent property). Besides that the native ThemeEngine of ElPack 5 was improved and moved to the LMD 2009 Shared Runtime, hence LMD-Tools controls support now like LMD ElPack skinning and theme switching at runtime. New in the LMD 2009 release are theming support for windows Caption and NC areas and improved loading/unloading/switching themes functionality at runtime. Like in previous releases any .MSStyles theme file can be used at runtime. Such .MSStyles can be also encapsulated in compressed CAB files.
Furthermore an addtional controller component was added, which allows centralized control of application wide theme settings (including specification of behaviour for readonly, disabled and other states).
Please note, that by default native ThemeEngine is switched off. To enable native ThemeEngine, corresponding compiler switch must be changed and all files recompiled (Source version required).

Support of Vista features was added - even for IDEs before Delphi/C++ 2009! Use TLMDVistaFormExtension, TLMDFormGlass, TLMDFileOpen- and TLMDFileSaveDialog to add features not available in older Delphi/C++ releases. Besides that methods for Vista and Aero Glass detection are provided. Includes updated TLMDTaskDialog (now with HTML and Unicode support) - use vista style dialogs even on non-Vista systems!