How can I get rid of the placeholder for space character?

[rase]

Since last week the blanks in my source files in the editing window are replaced by a character resembling a centered dot. I must have touched inadvertently a special key or a key combination causing the replacement. I tried to restore the blank, but I did not find an appropriate setting neither in the VS options nor in the project settings. What annoys me more is my stupidity to find a solution than the placeholder itself. Does somebody know how I could get rid of the centered dot?

[andrew_4619]

1) open the find and replace dialog in the edit menu

2) Click the '+ more' to display the full dialog

3) set the combo box to "use" regular expressions rather than  wildcards

3) in the find what box put \x?? where xx is the hex code for the ascii character you want to replace

4) in the replace with box put a single space or \x20

replace away....

There is also the find and replace in files option to work on the entire project or solution.... use with care!!!! make a backup first!

[rase]

Thanks app4619 for the quick reply. Sorry for my inability to convey my concern correctly. The source files are ok, only the display in the text window is not what I would like to see, for all files in all projects. Trying to replace characters in a file does not solve the problem. Because all source files in all projects are displayed with placeholders it must be a general setting in the VS2012 options, or even in Windows 7. Any suggestions?

[andrew_4619]

OK I get that. Not sure how to fix your problem, VS has so many features that it is often like looking for a tree in a forest!

[mecej4]

Toggle Edit:Advanced:view_white_space

[andrew_4619]

mecej4 wrote:

Toggle Edit:Advanced:view_white_space

Found it: also with <CTRL> RW  which toggkles the feature and is probably how Rase activated the feature by accident

Another piece of useful/useless?? info discovered about VS :-)

[mecej4]

A UI design that contains a toggle activated by a sequence of control characters, when those characters have other uses, is a design that deserves a "!@#$%^&*<>~".

[rase]

mecej4 wrote:Toggle Edit:Advanced:view_white_space

I am sorry I do not understand what this means. Could you be more specific? Is that an option in the VS settings (Tools/Options)? Or a sequence of keyboard strokes or a combination of keys?

<CTRL> RW: What is RW? A special key on the keyboard? Sorry for my ignorance.

[jimdempseyatthecove]

From main VS toolbar

Edit | Advanced | View Whitespace

Hot keys Ctrl-W and Ctrl-R

The hot keys list as above, however they do not work on my system (Ctrl-R is used for macro recording, Ctrl-W "copies" active source window to Explorer window).

But, Edit | Advanced | View Whitespace toggles the "." you see for whitespace.

Jim Dempsey

[andrew_4619]

Hold the control key down , press and release R then press and release W

To get the menu click on a source file window as the menu's have some context sensitivity,  then

1) edit menu

2) Advanced option

3) View White space option

[jimdempseyatthecove · Accepted solution]

Edit | Advanced | View White Space

are a series of click sequences, often used on this forum.

Open your Visual Studio solution (assumed in the instructions)

"Edit"

Move the mouse pointer to the tool bar "Edit" (File Edit View ...), and click (primary click (pointer finger click))

"|"

means next step in instructions

The first click on Edit presents you with a pull-down menu with an option "Advanced"

"Advanced"

Move mouse pointer to the Edit pull-down menu labeled "Advance". In this case the Advanced menu will pop-out. Therefore, learn that "someNameHere" may imply click on it if no pop-up or pull-down appears if none appear without click

"|"

means next step in instructions

"View White Space"

Means (in this case) click on it to toggle the View White Space feature

Jim Dempsey

[rase]

Thanks a lot for your efforts. Never accept that old horses cannot learn new tricks.