diff --git a/headless-services/boot-java-language-server/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/boot/java/BootJavaLanguageServer.java b/headless-services/boot-java-language-server/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/boot/java/BootJavaLanguageServer.java
index f9b7ba00f..945f8cd04 100644
--- a/headless-services/boot-java-language-server/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/boot/java/BootJavaLanguageServer.java
+++ b/headless-services/boot-java-language-server/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/boot/java/BootJavaLanguageServer.java
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@ import org.springframework.ide.vscode.boot.java.value.ValuePropertyReferencesPro
 import org.springframework.ide.vscode.boot.metadata.SpringPropertyIndexProvider;
 import org.springframework.ide.vscode.commons.gradle.GradleCore;
 import org.springframework.ide.vscode.commons.gradle.GradleProjectFinderStrategy;
+import org.springframework.ide.vscode.commons.languageserver.HighlightParams;
 import org.springframework.ide.vscode.commons.languageserver.completion.ICompletionEngine;
 import org.springframework.ide.vscode.commons.languageserver.completion.VscodeCompletionEngineAdapter;
 import org.springframework.ide.vscode.commons.languageserver.java.DefaultJavaProjectFinder;
@@ -80,6 +81,8 @@ public class BootJavaLanguageServer extends SimpleLanguageServer {
 	private final SpringIndexer indexer;
 	private final SpringLiveHoverWatchdog liveHoverWatchdog;
 
+	private final WordHighlighter testHightlighter = null; //new WordHighlighter("foo");
+
 	public BootJavaLanguageServer(JavaProjectFinder javaProjectFinder, SpringPropertyIndexProvider indexProvider) {
 		super("vscode-boot-java");
 
@@ -106,8 +109,12 @@ public class BootJavaLanguageServer extends SimpleLanguageServer {
 		liveHoverWatchdog = new SpringLiveHoverWatchdog(this, hoverInfoProvider);
 		documents.onDidChangeContent(params -> {
 			TextDocument doc = params.getDocument();
-			liveHoverWatchdog.watchDocument(doc.getUri());
-			liveHoverWatchdog.update(doc.getUri());
+			if (testHightlighter!=null) {
+				getClient().highlight(new HighlightParams(params.getDocument().getId(), testHightlighter.apply(doc)));
+			} else {
+				liveHoverWatchdog.watchDocument(doc.getUri());
+				liveHoverWatchdog.update(doc.getUri());
+			}
 		});
 
 		ReferencesHandler referencesHandler = createReferenceHandler(this, javaProjectFinder);
diff --git a/headless-services/boot-java-language-server/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/boot/java/WordHighlighter.java b/headless-services/boot-java-language-server/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/boot/java/WordHighlighter.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b43d35ffb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/headless-services/boot-java-language-server/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/boot/java/WordHighlighter.java
@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+/*******************************************************************************
+ * Copyright (c) 2017 Pivotal, Inc.
+ * 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
+ * http://www.eclipse.org/legal/epl-v10.html
+ *
+ * Contributors:
+ *     Pivotal, Inc. - initial API and implementation
+ *******************************************************************************/
+package org.springframework.ide.vscode.boot.java;
+
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.function.Function;
+
+import org.eclipse.lsp4j.Range;
+import org.springframework.ide.vscode.commons.languageserver.util.SimpleLanguageServer;
+import org.springframework.ide.vscode.commons.util.BadLocationException;
+import org.springframework.ide.vscode.commons.util.Log;
+import org.springframework.ide.vscode.commons.util.text.TextDocument;
+
+import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableList;
+
+/**
+ * Sample implementation of a 'highlighter' that can be used with {@link SimpleLanguageServer}.highlightWith.
+ * <p>
+ * Finds every occurence of a given word and highlights it.
+ *
+ * @author Kris De Volder
+ */
+public class WordHighlighter implements Function<TextDocument, List<Range>> {
+
+	private final String word;
+
+	public WordHighlighter(String word) {
+		super();
+		this.word = word;
+	}
+
+	@Override
+	public List<Range> apply(TextDocument doc) {
+		String text = doc.get();
+		int wordStart = text.indexOf(word);
+		ImmutableList.Builder<Range> highlights = ImmutableList.builder();
+		while (wordStart>=0) {
+			try {
+				highlights.add(doc.toRange(wordStart, word.length()));
+			} catch (BadLocationException e) {
+				Log.log(e);
+			}
+			wordStart = text.indexOf(word, wordStart+word.length());
+		}
+		return highlights.build();
+	}
+}