package be.eek.test.mysql;

import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.InputStream;

public class MysqlBackup {

    /**
    main method is just to create a working example
    **/
    public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
        new MysqlBackup().MakeBackup();
    }

    public void MakeBackup() throws IOException {
        String dump = "mysqldump "      //Path to mysql
                + "--host=localhost "       //Mysql hostname
                + "--port=3306 "            //Mysql portnumber
                + "--user=root "            //Mysql username
                + "--password=test "        //Mysql password
                + "--add-drop-table "       //Add a DROP TABLE statement before each CREATE TABLE statement
                + "--add-drop-database "    //Add a DROP DATABASE statement before each CREATE DATABASE statement
                + "--complete-insert "      //Use complete INSERT statements that include column names.
                + "--extended-insert "      //Use multiple-row INSERT syntax that include several VALUES lists
                + "test";                   //Mysql databasename

        Process run = Runtime.getRuntime().exec(dump);

        InputStream in = run.getInputStream();

        int nextChar;
        StringBuffer sb = new StringBuffer();

        while ((nextChar = in.read()) != -1) {
            sb.append((char) nextChar);
        }

        //Here, you can for example write it to a file and save it
        System.out.println(sb);
    }
}

The same thing is also possible in php:

$dump = "mysqldump "
        . "--host=localhost "       //Mysql hostname
        . "--port=3306 "            //Mysql portnumber
        . "--user=root "            //Mysql username
        . "--password=test "        //Mysql password
        . "--add-drop-table "       //Add a DROP TABLE statement before each CREATE TABLE statement
        . "--add-drop-database "    //Add a DROP DATABASE statement before each CREATE DATABASE statement
        . "--complete-insert "      //Use complete INSERT statements that include column names.
        . "--extended-insert "      //Use multiple-row INSERT syntax that include several VALUES lists
        . "test";                   //databasename

$backup = system($dump);
echo $backup;
die();