Tip: How to enable Text Editor Guide Lines in Visual Studio
Something I normally get annoyed when reviewing others code is when I have to scroll horizontally. Even when activating "Wrap", code doesn't look "sharp" and clear.
A not well known feature of Visual Studio (2002/3/5/8) is the ability to add a Guide Line to the text editor, which would show a visible line indicating a specific column. This feature of Visual Studio lets you display a vertical line at the column of your choosing to help visually see when a line is getting too long. This helps you to define a maximum acceptable column, where code should have a line break to look clear and sharp on all monitor resolutions.
Please beware that registry manipulation is needed, so DO IT AT YOUR OWN RISK:
Open a command prompt and run the following command:
REG ADD "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\[Version]\Text Editor" /v Guides /d "RGB([R],[G],[B]) [COL1], [COL2]"
You should replace:
[Version]- the Visual Studio Version (Please note: 2005 = 8.0 ; 2008 = 9.0)
[R] = RGB Red value (0-255) of the line
[G] = RGB Green value (0-255) of the line
[B] = RGB Blue value (0-255) of the line
[COL1] [COL2] = The column number where to show the line. You can have at most 13 lines.
As an example, you can run the following command:
REG ADD "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\8.0\Text Editor" /v Guides /d "RGB(128,0,0) 80, 120
Which would add two columns (column 80 and column 120).
Nice, no??