mysql multi_query intermittently fails - php

Question

function cpanel_populate_database($dbname)
{
// populate database
$sql = file_get_contents(dirname(__FILE__) . '/PHP-Point-Of-Sale/database/database.sql');
$mysqli->multi_query($sql);
$mysqli->close();
}
The sql file is a direct export from phpMyAdmin and about 95% of the time runs without issue and all the tables are created and data is inserted. (I am creating a database from scratch)
The other 5% only the first table or sometimes the first 4 tables are created, but none of the other tables are created (there are 30 tables).
I have decided to NOT use multi_query because it seems buggy and see if the the bug occurs by using just mysql_query on each line after semi-colon. Has anyone ran into issue's like this?

Answer 1

Fast and effective
system('mysql -h #username# -u #username# -p #database# < #dump_file#');

Answer 2

I've seen similar issues when using multi_query with queries that can create or alter tables. In particular, I tend to get InnoDB 1005 errors that seem to be related to foreign keys; it's like MySQL doesn't completely finish one statement before moving on to the next, so the foreign keys lack a proper referent.
In one system, I split the problematic statements into their own files. In another, I have indeed run each command separately, splitting on semicolons:
function load_sql_file($basename, $db) {
// Todo: Trim comments from the end of a line
log_upgrade("Attempting to run the `$basename` upgrade.");
$filename = dirname(__FILE__)."/sql/$basename.sql";
if (!file_exists($filename)) {
log_upgrade("Upgrade file `$filename` does not exist.");
return false;
}
$file_content = file($filename);
$query = '';
foreach ($file_content as $sql_line) {
$tsl = trim($sql_line);
if ($sql_line and (substr($tsl, 0, 2) != '--') and (substr($tsl, 0, 1) != '#')) {
$query .= $sql_line;
if (substr($tsl, -1) == ';') {
set_time_limit(300);
$sql = trim($query, "\0.. ;");
$result = $db->execute($sql);
if (!$result) {
log_upgrade("Failure in `$basename` upgrade:\n$sql");
if ($error = $db->lastError()) {
log_upgrade("$error");
}
return false;
}
$query = '';
}
}
}
$remainder = trim($query);
if ($remainder) {
log_upgrade("Trailing text in `$basename` upgrade:\n$remainder");
if (DEBUG) trigger_error('Trailing text in upgrade script: '.$remainder, E_USER_WARNING);
return false;
}
log_upgrade("`$basename` upgrade successful.");
return true;
}

Answer 3

I have never resorted to multi-query. When I needed something like that, I moved over to mysqli. Also, if you do not need any results from the query, passing the script to mysql_query will also work. You'll also get those errors if there are exports in an incorrect order that clash with require tables for foreign keys and others.

Answer 4

I think the approach of breaking the SQL file to single-queries would be a good idea. Even if its just for comparison purposes (to see if it solves the issue).
Also, I'm not sure how big is your file - but I've had a couple of cases where the file was incredibly big and splitting it into batches did the job.