PHP Download complete mysql database as .sql backup file

Question

I looked for a way in PHP to send a mysql database as .sql File to the client as download. I found a bunch of solutions and I really liked the approach of using mysqldump command via exec() (or shell_exec() or system() ) but sadly the mysqldump command is not available to me in this case.

And since my database connection cannot be hardcoded either, I found a lot of 'reinventing the wheel' solutions, where you just query 'SHOW TABLES' and start iterating, like in here: Export MySQL database using PHP only (Raju Dudhrejiya's Answer) . This worked perfectly fine until I noticed that it only saves the tables, and so does every other similar approach I found. No Events, Triggers, etc.. which is bad. Really bad.

I need something that also at least backs up events, so my first approach would be to just expand the following method (taken from the link above), though I am not sure how I would go on about it. I guess I must somehow query over all the events and append a 'CREATE EVENT' statement somewhere? Has anyone done something similar?

function Export_Database($host,$user,$pass,$name,  $tables=false, $backup_name=false )
    {
        $mysqli = new mysqli($host,$user,$pass,$name); 
        $mysqli->select_db($name); 
        $mysqli->query("SET NAMES 'utf8'");

    $queryTables    = $mysqli->query('SHOW TABLES'); 
    while($row = $queryTables->fetch_row()) 
    { 
        $target_tables[] = $row[0]; 
    }   
    if($tables !== false) 
    { 
        $target_tables = array_intersect( $target_tables, $tables); 
    }
    foreach($target_tables as $table)
    {
        $result         =   $mysqli->query('SELECT * FROM '.$table);  
        $fields_amount  =   $result->field_count;  
        $rows_num=$mysqli->affected_rows;     
        $res            =   $mysqli->query('SHOW CREATE TABLE '.$table); 
        $TableMLine     =   $res->fetch_row();
        $content        = (!isset($content) ?  '' : $content) . "\n\n".$TableMLine[1].";\n\n";

        for ($i = 0, $st_counter = 0; $i < $fields_amount;   $i++, $st_counter=0) 
        {
            while($row = $result->fetch_row())  
            { //when started (and every after 100 command cycle):
                if ($st_counter%100 == 0 || $st_counter == 0 )  
                {
                        $content .= "\nINSERT INTO ".$table." VALUES";
                }
                $content .= "\n(";
                for($j=0; $j<$fields_amount; $j++)  
                { 
                    $row[$j] = str_replace("\n","\\n", addslashes($row[$j]) ); 
                    if (isset($row[$j]))
                    {
                        $content .= '"'.$row[$j].'"' ; 
                    }
                    else 
                    {   
                        $content .= '""';
                    }     
                    if ($j<($fields_amount-1))
                    {
                            $content.= ',';
                    }      
                }
                $content .=")";
                //every after 100 command cycle [or at last line] ....p.s. but should be inserted 1 cycle eariler
                if ( (($st_counter+1)%100==0 && $st_counter!=0) || $st_counter+1==$rows_num) 
                {   
                    $content .= ";";
                } 
                else 
                {
                    $content .= ",";
                } 
                $st_counter=$st_counter+1;
            }
        } $content .="\n\n\n";
    }
    //$backup_name = $backup_name ? $backup_name : $name."___(".date('H-i-s')."_".date('d-m-Y').")__rand".rand(1,11111111).".sql";
    $backup_name = $backup_name ? $backup_name : $name.".sql";
    header('Content-Type: application/octet-stream');   
    header("Content-Transfer-Encoding: Binary"); 
    header("Content-disposition: attachment; filename=\"".$backup_name."\"");  
    echo $content; exit;
}

Answer 1

Nevermind, I figured it out myself.

This adds events and tables, triggers/ stored procedures should work in a similar fashion:

function Export_Database($host,$user,$pass,$name,$tables=false,$backup_name=false){
  $mysqli = new mysqli($host,$user,$pass,$name);
  $mysqli->select_db($name);
  $mysqli->query("SET NAMES 'utf8'");
  $queryTables    = $mysqli->query("SHOW TABLES");
  while($row = $queryTables->fetch_row()){
    $target_tables[] = $row['0']; //put each table name into array
  }
  if($tables){
    $target_tables = array_intersect($target_tables, $tables);
  }
  foreach($target_tables as $table){
    $result         =   $mysqli->query('SELECT * FROM '.$table);
    $fields_amount  =   $result->field_count;
    $rows_num       =   $mysqli->affected_rows;
    $res            =   $mysqli->query('SHOW CREATE TABLE '.$table);
    $TableMLine     =   $res->fetch_row();
    $content        = (!isset($content) ?  '' : $content) . "\n\n".$TableMLine[1].";\n\n";

    for ($i = 0, $st_counter = 0; $i < $fields_amount;   $i++, $st_counter=0){
      while($row = $result->fetch_row()){
        //when started (and every after 100 command cycle):
        if ($st_counter%100 == 0 || $st_counter == 0 ){
          $content .= "\nINSERT INTO ".$table." VALUES";
        }
        $content .= "\n(";
        for($j=0; $j<$fields_amount; $j++){
          $row[$j] = str_replace("\n","\\n", addslashes($row[$j]) );
          if (isset($row[$j])){
            $content .= '"'.$row[$j].'"' ;
          } else {
            $content .= '""';
          }
          if ($j<($fields_amount-1)){
            $content.= ',';
          }
        }
        $content .=")";
        //every after 100 command cycle [or at last line] ....p.s. but should be inserted 1 cycle eariler
        if ( (($st_counter+1)%100==0 && $st_counter!=0) || $st_counter+1==$rows_num){
          $content .= ";";
        } else {
          $content .= ",";
        }
        $st_counter=$st_counter+1;
      }
    } $content .="\n\n\n";
  }

  $events = $mysqli->query("SHOW EVENTS");
  while($events && ($row = $events->fetch_row())){
    $res = $mysqli->query("SHOW CREATE EVENT ".$row[0].'.'.$row[1]);
    $TableMLine = $res->fetch_row();
    $content .= "\n\n".$TableMLine[3].";\n\n";
  }

  $backup_name = $backup_name ? $backup_name : $name.".sql";
  header('Content-Type: application/octet-stream');
  header("Content-Transfer-Encoding: Binary");
  header("Content-disposition: attachment; filename=\"".$backup_name."\"");
  echo $content;  exit;
}