TextFields and TextArea, cols parameter,

If we construct a textfield tf, using costructor (int nCols = 5), after tf is created, i'm able to enter more characters than specified ncols in constructor. I thought it won't allow me to enter more than specified columns. Can somebody please clarify me. This is same behavior for textArea's.
Thanks

You need to know the difference between propotional pitch font and fixed pitch font.
Read this topic first.

Actually, I think PGautam is talking about something slightly different - not how many characters are displayed in one line, but how many characters you can type in one line, with scrolling. The latter has nothing to do with font type. The simple answer is, TextField and TextArea do not allow you to limit the number of characters on a line - only the number displayed at one time. (And only approximately, especially for proportional pitch fonts.)

Thanks Jim.

If you are talking about TextField , there is no question of scrolling.(beware ???)
I think ,atleast you should read this.You will get the answer:
The width of a "column" is equal to the width of a character, in the particular font being used. In the case of fixed pitch fonts, where all the characters are the same size, this is straightforward. For proportional fonts, the width of a column is equal to the average of the width of all the characters in the font. This means, for example, if you had text component with a proportional font and a width of 10 columns, if you use a narrow letter such as 'i', more than 10 'i's could be displayed.

A TextField does not allow any vertical scrolling, however it does allow horizontal scrolling. So if you keep on typing past the "limit", it just scrolls horizontally to display as much as you want to type. There's no scrollbar, but you can use the arrow keys to move back and forth.