NodeJS MySQL Dump - mysql

Question

I've attempted to write a basic cron script to run and 'dump' a mysql database. For some reason, when it 'successfully saves the file', it does create the file, but it is empty. If instead of saving the file, I perform a console.log, it prints an empty string. Any thoughts on what I may be doing wrong?
Thanks in advance.
var mysql_backup = function(){
this.backup = '';
this.mysql = require('mysql'),
this.init = function(){
this.connection = this.mysql.createConnection({
user: 'root',
password: 'root',
database: 'test'
});
}
this.query = function(sql, callback) {
this.connection.query(sql, function (error, results, fields) {
if (error) {
throw error;
}
if (results.length > 0) {
callback(results);
}
});
}
this.get_tables = function(callback){
var me = this;
me.query('SHOW TABLES',
function(tables) {
for (var table in tables){
me.query(
'SHOW CREATE TABLE ' + tables[table].Tables_in_test,
function(r){
for (var t in r) {
me.backup += "DROP TABLE " + r[t].Table + "\n\n";
me.backup += r[t]["Create Table"] + "\n\n";
}
}
)
}
me.save_backup();
});
}
this.save_backup = function(){
var fs = require('fs');
fs.writeFile("./backup_test.txt", this.backup, function(err) {
if(err) {
console.log(err);
} else {
console.log("The file was saved!");
}
});
}
};
var db = new mysql_backup;
db.init();
db.get_tables();
db.connection.destroy();

Answer 1

The code as written didn't even get to a file saving for me. There seem like a few issues. Not sure if this is the actual code or some things got lost in the copy paste. However, based on what you've got:
A big one is that you never connect to the database in your code with connection.connect().
The code you want to run once connected should be inside the connection.connect() callback. e.g.
connection.connect(function (err, empty) {
if (err)
throw new Error ('Panic');
// if no error, we are off to the races...
}
However, even if you quickly refactor your code to wrap your last lines inside of that get connection callback, you'll still have problems, because you are destroying the connection before the various SQL calls are getting made, so you will want to move the code into some sort of final callback.
Even after you do that, you'll still have an empty file, because you're calling save_backup from your 'SHOW TABLES' callback rather than after you have actually populated it via the inner callback where you get the CREATE TABLE statement and populate the backup property.
This is the minimal rewriting of your code which will do what you are intending. An important thing to note is the "counter" which manages when to write the file and close the connection. I would make other changes if it were mine, including:
Using 'self' instead of 'me'
Using a numeric for loop rather than the for (... in ...) syntax
Having my own callbacks fall the node convention of (err, stuff)
A more substantial changes is that I would rewrite this to use promises, as doing so can spare you some grief with the confusion inherent with deeply nested callbacks. I personally like the Q library, but there are several options here.
Hope this helped.
var mysql_backup = function(){
this.backup = '';
this.mysql = require('mysql');
this.init = function(){
this.connection = this.mysql.createConnection({
user : 'root',
password : 'root',
database : 'test'
});
};
this.query = function(sql, callback) {
this.connection.query(sql, function (error, results, fields) {
if (error) {
throw error;
}
if (results.length > 0) {
callback(results);
}
});
};
this.get_tables = function(callback){
var counter = 0;
var me = this;
this.query('SHOW TABLES',
function(tables) {
for (table in tables){
counter++;
me.query(
'SHOW CREATE TABLE ' + tables[table].Tables_in_mvc,
function(r){
for (t in r) {
me.backup += "DROP TABLE " + r[t].Table + "\n\n";
me.backup += r[t]["Create Table"] + "\n\n";
}
counter--;
if (counter === 0){
me.save_backup();
me.connection.destroy();
}
}
)
}
});
};
this.save_backup = function(){
var fs = require('fs');
fs.writeFile("./backup_test.txt", this.backup, function(err) {
if(err) {
console.log(err);
} else {
console.log("The file was saved!");
}
});
}
};
var db = new mysql_backup;
db.init();
db.connection.connect(function (err){
if (err) console.log(err);
db.get_tables(function(x){;});
});
Update: If you are curious, here is a heavily-commented implementation using promises. Note that without the comments explaining the Q promise library functions, it is somewhat shorter than the original version and also offers more comprehensive error handling.
var MysqlBackup = function(connectionInfo, filename){
var Q = require('q');
var self = this;
this.backup = '';
// my personal preference is to simply require() inline if I am only
// going to use something a single time. I am certain some will find
// this a terrible practice
this.connection = require('mysql').createConnection(connectionInfo);
function getTables(){
// return a promise from invoking the node-style 'query' method
// of self.connection with parameter 'SHOW TABLES'.
return Q.ninvoke(self.connection,'query', 'SHOW TABLES');
};
function doTableEntries(theResults){
// note that because promises only pass a single parameter around,
// if the 'denodeify-ed' callback has more than two parameters (the
// first being the err param), the parameters will be stuffed into
// an array. In this case, the content of the 'fields' param of the
// mysql callback is in theResults[1]
var tables = theResults[0];
// create an array of promises resulting from another Q.ninvoke()
// query call, chained to .then(). Note that then() expects a function,
// so recordEntry() in fact builds and returns a new one-off function
// for actually recording the entry (see recordEntry() impl. below)
var tableDefinitionGetters = [];
for (var i = 0; i < tables.length ; i++){
// I noticed in your original code that your Tables_in_[] did not
// match your connection details ('mvc' vs 'test'), but the below
// should work and is a more generalized solution
var tableName = tables[i]['Tables_in_'+connectionInfo.database];
tableDefinitionGetters.push(Q.ninvoke(self.connection, 'query', 'SHOW CREATE TABLE ' + tableName)
.then(recordEntry(tableName)) );
}
// now that you have an array of promises, you can use Q.allSettled
// to return a promise which will be settled (resolved or rejected)
// when all of the promises in the array are settled. Q.all is similar,
// but its promise will be rejected (immediately) if any promise in the
// array is rejected. I tend to use allSettled() in most cases.
return Q.allSettled(tableDefinitionGetters);
};
function recordEntry (tableName){
return function(createTableQryResult){
self.backup += "DROP TABLE " + tableName + "\n\n";
self.backup += createTableQryResult[0][0]["Create Table"] + "\n\n";
};
};
function saveFile(){
// Q.denodeify return a promise-enabled version of a node-style function
// the below is probably excessively terse with its immediate invocation
return (Q.denodeify(require('fs').writeFile))(filename, self.backup);
}
// with the above all done, now you can actually make the magic happen,
// starting with the promise-return Q.ninvoke to connect to the DB
// note that the successive .then()s will be executed iff (if and only
// if) the preceding item resolves successfully, .catch() will get
// executed in the event of any upstream error, and finally() will
// get executed no matter what.
Q.ninvoke(this.connection, 'connect')
.then(getTables)
.then(doTableEntries)
.then(saveFile)
.then( function() {console.log('Success'); } )
.catch( function(err) {console.log('Something went awry', err); } )
.finally( function() {self.connection.destroy(); } );
};
var myConnection = {
host : '127.0.0.1',
user : 'root',
password : 'root',
database : 'test'
};
// I have left this as constructor-based calling approach, but the
// constructor just does it all so I just ignore the return value
new MysqlBackup(myConnection,'./backup_test.txt');