If you need to quickly count characters in text then this little flex application might be useful. It uses Courier font for fixed width display, so you will need this font on your computer to use this tool. Type or paste text into the area below and see the number of characters in your text.
Note: In case you’re not familiar with this concept, there are hidden characters for line-breaks. If you wish to count these characters, you can include these characters with the checkbox at the bottom. You can also enable word wrap.
this is a cool little component. source?
How to get a flex code for this application, please help