How to upload database using Dropbox?

Question

I've just created a Barcode Scanner app and have a database of barcode. I want to upload/sync this database to the company's server then another programmer can get and build website UI. Unfortunately, our server is not public (but it can connect internet through proxy), so I want to use Dropbox to do that. Could you please give me a useful sample code or tell me the best way to upload/sync database in this case? I am extremely grateful for your help!

Answer 1

Alright, assuming your database is a MySQL DB with a host environment that lets you run cron jobs, access your FTP, etc... here's a possible code snippet for you, I just had to do this myself with the Dropbox API, you can actually read the full post here for a walk-thru (Dropbox API and MySQL DB Dump/Upload

<?php
# Include the Dropbox SDK libraries
require_once __DIR__."/dropbox-sdk/lib/Dropbox/autoload.php";
use \Dropbox as dbx;
//your access token from the Dropbox App Panel
$accessToken = 'NOT-A-REAL-TOKEN-REPLACE-THIS-QM8jS0z1w1t-REPLACE-THIS-TOKEN';

//run the MySQL dump and zip;

// location of your temp directory
$tmpDir = "your_temp_dir";
// username for MySQL
$user = "DB_user";
// password for MySQL
$password = "DB_password";
// database name to backup
$dbName = "DB_name";
// hostname or IP where database resides
$dbHost = "your_hostname";
// the zip file will have this prefix
$prefix = "sql_db_";

// Create the database backup file
$sqlFile = $tmpDir.$prefix.date('Y_m_d_h:i:s').".sql";
$backupFilename = $prefix.date('Y_m_d_h:i:s').".tgz";
$backupFile = $tmpDir.$backupFilename;

$createBackup = "mysqldump -h ".$dbHost." -u ".$user." --password='".$password."' ".$dbName." --> ".$sqlFile;
//echo $createBackup;
$createZip = "tar cvzf $backupFile $sqlFile";
//echo $createZip;
exec($createBackup);
exec($createZip);

//now run the DBox app info and set the client; we are naming the app folder SQL_Backup but CHANGE THAT TO YOUR ACTUAL APP FOLDER NAME;

$appInfo = dbx\AppInfo::loadFromJsonFile(__DIR__."/config.json");
$dbxClient = new dbx\Client($accessToken, "SQL_Backup");


//now the main handling of the zipped file upload;

//this message will send in a system e-mail from your cron job (assuming you set up cron to email you);
echo("Uploading $backupFilename to Dropbox\n");

//this is the actual Dropbox upload method;
$f = fopen($backupFile, "rb");
$result = $dbxClient->uploadFile('/SQL_Backup/'.$backupFilename, dbx\WriteMode::force(), $f);
fclose($f);

// Delete the temporary files
unlink($sqlFile);
unlink($backupFile);

?>

You also need to make a config.json file like so:

{
"key": "YOUR_KEY_FROM_DROPBOX_APP_PANEL",
"secret": "YOUR_SECRET_FROM_DROPBOX_APP_PANEL"
}

You will need to create a new Dropbox app under your Dropbox account to get your key and secret, and to generate the auth code for your username, do that here when logged in: https://www.dropbox.com/developers/apps

You also need to download the Dropbox PHP SDK library to put on your server in the same folder as this PHP code above, find that here: https://www.dropbox.com/developers/core/sdks/php

Hope this helps; if you need more step-by-step or your developer does, go that link at the top for a full walk through.