diff --git a/src/kits/interface/TextView.cpp b/src/kits/interface/TextView.cpp
index 8f7b91699c..53f34056a2 100644
--- a/src/kits/interface/TextView.cpp
+++ b/src/kits/interface/TextView.cpp
@@ -3661,11 +3661,9 @@ BTextView::DrawLines(int32 startLine, int32 endLine, int32 startOffset, bool era
 						view->PopState();
 					}
 					
-					const char *string = fText->GetString(offset, tabChars);
-					// TODO: GetString() could return less or more bytes than requested
-					// Improve the backend api so it's more robust and pass back the returned
-					// bytes
-					view->DrawString(string, tabChars);
+					int32 returnedBytes = 0;
+					const char *string = fText->GetString(offset, tabChars, &returnedBytes);
+					view->DrawString(string, returnedBytes);
 					
 					if (foundTab) {
 						float penPos = PenLocation().x - fTextRect.left;
diff --git a/src/kits/interface/textview_support/TextGapBuffer.cpp b/src/kits/interface/textview_support/TextGapBuffer.cpp
index 80ff05906c..582340403f 100644
--- a/src/kits/interface/textview_support/TextGapBuffer.cpp
+++ b/src/kits/interface/textview_support/TextGapBuffer.cpp
@@ -169,15 +169,15 @@ _BTextGapBuffer_::SizeGapTo(long inCount)
 
 
 const char *
-_BTextGapBuffer_::GetString(int32 fromOffset, int32 numBytes)
+_BTextGapBuffer_::GetString(int32 fromOffset, int32 numBytes, int32 *returnedBytes)
 {
-	// numBytes won't necessarily be honored. This function could return more
-	// bytes than specified (for example when in password mode)
-	// TODO: Fix this, it's not very nice.
 	char *result = "";
 	
-	if (numBytes < 1)
+	if (numBytes < 1) {
+		if (returnedBytes != NULL)
+			*returnedBytes = 0;
 		return result;
+	}
 	
 	bool isStartBeforeGap = (fromOffset < fGapIndex);
 	bool isEndBeforeGap = ((fromOffset + numBytes - 1) < fGapIndex);
@@ -198,7 +198,10 @@ _BTextGapBuffer_::GetString(int32 fromOffset, int32 numBytes)
 
 		result = fScratchBuffer;
 	}
-	
+
+	if (returnedBytes != NULL)
+		*returnedBytes = numBytes;
+
 	// TODO: this could be improved. We are overwriting what we did some lines ago,
 	// we could just avoid to do that.
 	if (fPasswordMode) {
@@ -216,7 +219,9 @@ _BTextGapBuffer_::GetString(int32 fromOffset, int32 numBytes)
 			memcpy(scratchPtr, B_UTF8_BULLET, charLen);
 			scratchPtr += charLen;
 		}
-		scratchPtr = '\0';		
+		scratchPtr = '\0';	
+		if (returnedBytes != NULL)
+			*returnedBytes = newSize - 1;	
 	}
 
 	return result;
diff --git a/src/kits/interface/textview_support/TextGapBuffer.h b/src/kits/interface/textview_support/TextGapBuffer.h
index 9d8dc21cbf..0ddce9b989 100644
--- a/src/kits/interface/textview_support/TextGapBuffer.h
+++ b/src/kits/interface/textview_support/TextGapBuffer.h
@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@
 
 
 class BFile;
-// _BTextGapBuffer_ class ------------------------------------------------------
 class _BTextGapBuffer_ {
 
 public:
@@ -27,32 +26,31 @@ virtual				~_BTextGapBuffer_();
 		void		MoveGapTo(int32 toIndex);
 		void		SizeGapTo(int32 inCount);
 
-		const char *GetString(int32 fromOffset, int32 numChars);
 		bool		FindChar(char inChar, int32 fromIndex, int32 *ioDelta);
 
-		const char *Text();
+		const char 	*Text();
 		int32		Length() const;
 		char		operator[](int32 index) const;
 
 		
-//		char 	*RealText();
-		void	GetString(int32 offset, int32 length, char *buffer);
-//		void	GetString(int32, int32 *);
+//		char 		*RealText();
+		const char 	*GetString(int32 fromOffset, int32 numBytes, int32 *returnedBytes);
+		void		GetString(int32 offset, int32 length, char *buffer);
 		
-		char	RealCharAt(int32 offset) const;
+		char		RealCharAt(int32 offset) const;
 				
-		bool	PasswordMode() const;
-		void	SetPasswordMode(bool);
+		bool		PasswordMode() const;
+		void		SetPasswordMode(bool);
 
-//		void	Resize(int32 size);
+//		void		Resize(int32 size);
 
 protected:
 		int32	fExtraCount;		// when realloc()-ing
-		int32	fItemCount;			// logical count
-		char	*fBuffer;			// allocated memory
+		int32	fItemCount;		// logical count
+		char	*fBuffer;		// allocated memory
 		int32	fBufferCount;		// physical count
-		int32	fGapIndex;			// gap position
-		int32	fGapCount;			// gap count
+		int32	fGapIndex;		// gap position
+		int32	fGapCount;		// gap count
 		char	*fScratchBuffer;	// for GetString
 		int32	fScratchSize;		// scratch size
 		bool	fPasswordMode;