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 a later version?
EDIT: Sorry, I meant specifically in the text/query editor.
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
.
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.
Starting in SSMS 2012 this is available in Edit > Advanced > View White Space
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...