title: initialize counter value to 0 in prometheus
body: <p>I'm using a simple client Prometheus version 0.6.0</p>
  <p>I have a set of counters that are defined this way</p>
  <pre><code>private static final Counter CD_PRODUCT_SUCCESS_CREATED = new  Counter.Builder()
              .name(&quot;cd_Product_success_created&quot;)
              .help(&quot;product success created.&quot;)
              .labelNames(&quot;podname&quot;)
              .create()
              .register(CollectorRegistry.defaultRegistry);
  ....
  </code></pre>
  <pre><code> public List&lt;MetricFamilySamples&gt; collect() {
          List&lt;MetricFamilySamples&gt; samples = new ArrayList&lt;&gt;();
          samples.addAll(CD_PRODUCT_SUCCESS_CREATED.collect());
          ....
          return samples;
  
  </code></pre>
  <pre><code>public void addCdProductSuccessCreated() {
          CD_PRODUCT_SUCCESS_CREATED.labels(podName).inc();
      }
  </code></pre>
  <p>I inject this class in places where I need it and then call the methods like addCdProductSuccessCreated() yet for the metrics that do not have values they look empty when I <strong>scrape</strong> them ex:</p>
  <pre><code># HELP cd_Product_success_created
  # TYPE cd_Product_success_created counter
  </code></pre>
  <p>my question is how can I initilize the counter with the value 0 so that it appears even tho the inc method is not called</p>