Count Characters for Automatic Entry of Quantity

-- url of the page with the problem -- : horseshoeengraver.com/shop/product/8-custom-lettering
-- HikaShop version -- : 2.3.4
-- Joomla version -- : 2.5.20
-- PHP version -- : 5.5.3
-- Browser(s) name and version -- : ANY

Hi, I am a silversmith (not a programmer) who sells custom engraving for some of my products. I charge a fee per each character that I hand-engrave. Is there a way I can have the customer type their desired inscription in a field and have HikaShop automatically count the number characters in the field in order to automatically enter the correct quantity. (Asking the customers to count the number of characters in their inscriptions never ends well.)
Thanks!

Thanks Nicolas,
I really appreciate you taking the time to create the plugin. This looks like the perfect fix for my problem. Unfortunately when I enable the plug in and put something into my cart, my website no longer displays in Safari. I have disabled all third party modules and plugins and the problem still exists.


Here was my workflow;

1 - Installed the plugin and enabled it changing the input field name "from_field" to "inscription2" and saved.
2 - Created a custom text field in the item table labeled "inscription2" and assigned it to the proper category

The custom text field is then available on the product pages but when I add anything to the cart, any page in the shop of my website fails to display.

Hopefully you will know what the problem is.

When the plugin is enabled, this error is generated when going into the Hikashop category page. Strict Standards: Only variables should be assigned by reference in D:\Websites\Skip\horseshoeengraver.com\www\plugins\system\rsseo\rsseo.php on line 373 Fatal error: Call to a member function get() on a non-object in D:\Websites\Skip\horseshoeengraver.com\www\plugins\system\custom_price_letter_count\custom_price_letter_count.php on line 24

Then this error is generated when anything is added to the cart. Fatal error: Call to a member function get() on a non-object in D:\Websites\Skip\horseshoeengraver.com\www\plugins\system\custom_price_letter_count\custom_price_letter_count.php on line 24
Thanks

Hi,

Please edit the indicated file and replace:

$field = $params->get('field','');

$field = $this->params->get('field','');

Changing the file produces this result.
Thank you

Fatal error: Using $this when not in object context in D:\Websites\Skip\horseshoeengraver.com\www\plugins\system\custom_price_letter_count\custom_price_letter_count.php on line 24

Nicolas,
Thank you, once again for the time you have put into working on this. I am sure there will be many others who will be able to use this plugin if they do any custom work.

This version of the plugin does indeed work without throwing any errors. Unfortunately, I still can't use the it because it counts not only the characters typed in the custom field, it also counts blank spaces. Since the intent is to calculate the correct price for the custom lettering engraved on the product, the plugin would charge the customer for each blank space as well. Example,if the client's requested inscription is ALL MY LOVE , the plugin inputs a quantity of 11 instead of the correct quantity of 9.

Awesome! Thank you! This is a good example of why I stay with you guys year after year!