diff --git a/plugins/org.eclipse.dd.debug.memory.renderings.traditional/src/org/eclipse/dd/debug/memory/renderings/traditional/Rendering.java b/plugins/org.eclipse.dd.debug.memory.renderings.traditional/src/org/eclipse/dd/debug/memory/renderings/traditional/Rendering.java
index 28e1eba6f85..e47500e5df5 100644
--- a/plugins/org.eclipse.dd.debug.memory.renderings.traditional/src/org/eclipse/dd/debug/memory/renderings/traditional/Rendering.java
+++ b/plugins/org.eclipse.dd.debug.memory.renderings.traditional/src/org/eclipse/dd/debug/memory/renderings/traditional/Rendering.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*******************************************************************************
- * Copyright (c) 2006-2007 Wind River Systems, Inc. and others.
+ * Copyright (c) 2006-2008 Wind River Systems, Inc. and others.
  * All rights reserved. This program and the accompanying materials
  * are made available under the terms of the Eclipse Public License v1.0
  * which accompanies this distribution, and is available at
@@ -140,6 +140,8 @@ public class Rendering extends Composite implements IDebugEventSetListener
 
     private int fPaneSpacing = 16;
     
+    private String fPaddingString = "?"; //$NON-NLS-1$
+    
     // flag whether the memory cache is dirty
     private boolean fCacheDirty = false;
 
@@ -514,6 +516,18 @@ public class Rendering extends Composite implements IDebugEventSetListener
         layout(true);
     }
     
+    public void setPaddingString(String padding)
+    {
+    	fPaddingString = padding;
+    	
+    	refresh();
+    }
+    
+    public char getPaddingCharacter()
+    {
+    	return fPaddingString.charAt(0); // use only the first character
+    }
+    
     static int suspendCount = 0;
 
     public void handleDebugEvents(DebugEvent[] events)
@@ -1933,7 +1947,7 @@ public class Rendering extends Composite implements IDebugEventSetListener
 
         StringBuffer errorText = new StringBuffer();
         for(int i = getRadixCharacterCount(radix, bytes.length); i > 0; i--)
-            errorText.append('?');
+            errorText.append(getPaddingCharacter());
 
         return errorText.toString();
     }
@@ -2015,7 +2029,7 @@ public class Rendering extends Composite implements IDebugEventSetListener
         {
             StringBuffer errorText = new StringBuffer();
             for(int i = memoryBytes.length; i > 0; i--)
-                errorText.append('?');
+                errorText.append(getPaddingCharacter());
             return errorText.toString();
         }
 
@@ -2077,7 +2091,7 @@ public class Rendering extends Composite implements IDebugEventSetListener
     		// return ?s the length of byte count
     		StringBuffer buf = new StringBuffer();
     		for(int i = 0; i < memoryBytes.length - buf.length(); i++)
-    			buf.append('?');
+    			buf.append(getPaddingCharacter());
     		return buf.toString();
     	}   
     }
diff --git a/plugins/org.eclipse.dd.debug.memory.renderings.traditional/src/org/eclipse/dd/debug/memory/renderings/traditional/TraditionalRendering.java b/plugins/org.eclipse.dd.debug.memory.renderings.traditional/src/org/eclipse/dd/debug/memory/renderings/traditional/TraditionalRendering.java
index 028943ab1d2..4e51b4b1edd 100644
--- a/plugins/org.eclipse.dd.debug.memory.renderings.traditional/src/org/eclipse/dd/debug/memory/renderings/traditional/TraditionalRendering.java
+++ b/plugins/org.eclipse.dd.debug.memory.renderings.traditional/src/org/eclipse/dd/debug/memory/renderings/traditional/TraditionalRendering.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*******************************************************************************
- * Copyright (c) 2006 Wind River Systems, Inc. and others.
+ * Copyright (c) 2006-2008 Wind River Systems, Inc. and others.
  * All rights reserved. This program and the accompanying materials
  * are made available under the terms of the Eclipse Public License v1.0
  * which accompanies this distribution, and is available at
@@ -20,7 +20,6 @@ import org.eclipse.core.commands.ExecutionException;
 import org.eclipse.core.runtime.IProgressMonitor;
 import org.eclipse.core.runtime.IStatus;
 import org.eclipse.core.runtime.Status;
-import org.eclipse.dd.debug.memory.renderings.traditional.Rendering.Selection;
 import org.eclipse.debug.core.DebugException;
 import org.eclipse.debug.core.model.IMemoryBlock;
 import org.eclipse.debug.core.model.IMemoryBlockExtension;
@@ -31,6 +30,7 @@ import org.eclipse.debug.internal.ui.DebugUIPlugin;
 import org.eclipse.debug.internal.ui.IInternalDebugUIConstants;
 import org.eclipse.debug.internal.ui.memory.IMemoryBlockConnection;
 import org.eclipse.debug.internal.ui.views.memory.renderings.GoToAddressAction;
+import org.eclipse.debug.ui.IDebugUIConstants;
 import org.eclipse.debug.ui.memory.AbstractMemoryRendering;
 import org.eclipse.debug.ui.memory.AbstractTableRendering;
 import org.eclipse.debug.ui.memory.IMemoryRendering;
@@ -156,6 +156,30 @@ public class TraditionalRendering extends AbstractMemoryRendering implements IRe
     			}
     		});
         
+        
+        DebugUIPlugin.getDefault().getPreferenceStore().addPropertyChangeListener(
+        	new IPropertyChangeListener()
+        	{
+        		public void propertyChange(PropertyChangeEvent event)
+        		{
+        			if(event.getProperty().equals(IDebugUIConstants.PREF_PADDED_STR))
+        			{
+        				if(TraditionalRendering.this.fRendering != null)
+        				{
+	        				setRenderingPadding((String) event.getNewValue());
+	        				TraditionalRendering.this.fRendering.redrawPanes();
+        				}
+        			}
+        		}
+        	});
+           
+    }
+    
+    private void setRenderingPadding(String padding)
+    {
+    	if(padding == null || padding.length() == 0)
+			padding = "?";
+		TraditionalRendering.this.fRendering.setPaddingString(padding);
     }
     
     protected void logError(String message, Exception e)
@@ -442,6 +466,8 @@ public class TraditionalRendering extends AbstractMemoryRendering implements IRe
 	    	for(int i = 0; i < panes.length; i++)
 	    		panes[i].setBackground(getColorBackground());
 	    	
+	    	setRenderingPadding(DebugUIPlugin.getDefault().getPreferenceStore().getString(IDebugUIConstants.PREF_PADDED_STR));
+	    	
 	    	fRendering.redrawPanes();
     	}
     }