How to use Counter api to show the total count of meter in ui

[malaxiaolongxia]

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• Why do you submit this issue?
• Question or discussion
• Bug
• Requirement
• Feature or performance improvement

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Question

• What do you want to know?
  I want to record the count of users ,so I code like this

import org.apache.skywalking.apm.toolkit.meter.Counter
Counter counter = MeterFactory.counter("total_users").build();
counter.increment(1);   //create user

// counter.increment(-1);     //delete user

then i want to config a chart in ui to show total users but i can only config the number of new users per minute

{
            "width":3,
            "title":"Title",
            "height":350,
            "entityType":"ServiceInstance",
            "independentSelector":false,
            "metricType":"REGULAR_VALUE",
            "metricName":"meter_total_users",
            "queryMetricType":"readMetricsValues",
            "chartType":"ChartLine"
        }

so how to config or code ？

[wu-sheng]

You need to create meter script first, please follow this doc, https://skywalking.apache.org/docs/main/v8.7.0/en/setup/backend/backend-meter/#meters-configuration. And don't forget to learn MAL.

We have a lot of MAL examples already, you could learn from it.

[wu-sheng]

In that case, there isn't. In typical observability use case, if backend service is not available, then, the metrics should be ignored.
All backend streaming and even database are designed for latest and hot data only.

[malaxiaolongxia]

i think this is important in business dashboard，it is not like jvm,cpu,io..
eg: when i create a meter means 'order count',i will always make sure the count is correct

• when a new meter be added, historical data should be added to ensure business integrity
• if backend service is not available, business data should be repaired

[wu-sheng]

No, it isn't. You should not take SkyWalking or any APM like a BI system.
The counter will be eventually correct when the backend back to work. But don't expect to keep historical data always correct. If you want, try to make the backend stable.
That API wouldn't be provided, no matter from design and technology possibility perspectives.

[wu-sheng]

The APM expectation is that, the data would be x,0,0,0,y. The value Y is correct.

[malaxiaolongxia]

ok, thanks a lot.