Backup remote mysql database to local machine

I told you here a way to backup remote MySQL databases using a mix of AppleScript and shell script (ssh).

But that method won’t work with certain table types, which don’t store the data in files, such as InnoDB. So, here is a one-liner using mysqldump to backup that kind of databases…

mysqldump --opt --compress --host='website.com' --user='USER' --password='PWD' --all-databases | mysql -uUSER -pPWD -h127.0.0.1

Just substitute where needed USER and PWD. This shell script requires MySQL running in both machines and privileges to access the data in both sides.

IMHO, it runs much slower than the other method (making a copy of the remote db files) so, if you can use it, go for it! Otherwise, this method is safe for your data (safe if you don’t lose power or internet connection in the process 😉 ).

See “man mysqldump” for more options (such as extracting only certain databases or tables, as this script will backup everything!).

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Run command-line from JSFL

This is a somewhat old topic born with the original FLfile library by Guy Watson: the undocumented runCommandLine JSFL command, which still exists in FLfile. Previously we had FLappleScript, but it stopped working some time before runCommandLine was available for us in the Mac (IIRC).

If you are new to this, you may be shocked when you type and run this in a new “Flash JavaScript File” document:

FLfile.runCommandLine("echo 'ok' > /tmp/sample.txt;open /tmp/sample.txt");
// works in Mac, use your windows' shell knowledge if you use Win

Or this one:

FLfile.runCommandLine("osascript -e 'tell app \"iTunes\" to playpause'");

These are stupid examples, but I have a couple of interesting projects using a mix of various technologies, including JSFL and Flash, AppleScript, the shell and Illustrator, etc., which is a very promiscuous mode of scripting, but very funny and inedited for many people.

This command only returns (I think) the exit status (1 or 0), but still there is a bunch of ways to get your data (such as writing it to tmp files and reading them from JSFL using FLfile.read())