Is there any way to view whitespace in the query editor for SQL Server Management Studio Express 2005?

Question

I have it enabled in Visual Studio 2008, but I\'d really like to enable this feature in SQL Server Management Studio 2005 Express. Does anyone know if its possible? Maybe in

Answer 1

Starting in SSMS 2012 this is available in Edit > Advanced > View White Space

Answer 2

In case you still need to know how to do this.

Edit the Registry Key in HKEY_CURRENT_USER:

Software\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\xx\Tools\Shell\Text Editor\Visible Whitespace

Where xx is the version you have (90 is 2005, 100 is 2008)

And set it to 1 to show. Or for SQL Server 2012 and up client tools it is also in HKCU:

Software\Microsoft\Microsoft\SQL Server Management Studio\v\Text Editor\Visible Whitespace

where v in SQL Server 2012 is 11.0 and in SQL Server 2014 is 12.0.

Answer 3

Try doing Ctrl R, Ctrl W.

This is Edit.ViewWhiteSpace command (you can see this in Tools>Options>Keyboard) and should be assigned to that keyboard combination.

This worked for me with Server Management Studio 11.0.2100.60.

Answer 4

SSMS (2005, I don't know about 2008) does not provide this functionality.

However, you could use a font that uses visible glyphs for spaces and tabs, like this: http://imgur.com/944LZ

I used a free font editor called Type Light to make a copy of an existing font, with a visible space glyph.

I know it's a hack, but where there's a will there's usually a way...