Mysqldump via ShellExecute not working - delphi

Question

I am trying to backup my mysql database from delphi by using ShellExecute to run mysqldump.
This is how I am using mysqldump:
MySqlDump.exe -u root -p[password] [databasename] > TheOutputFile.Sql
This works from command prompt.
I call this command line using ShellExecute:
ShellExecute(
0,
nil,
'cmd.exe',
'C:\SmartRetail\Test System\Periodic database backup\MySqlDump.exe -u root -p123 smartretailprogramdata > TheOutputFile2.Sql',
nil,
SW_SHOW
);
This does not work, instead it opens command prompt.
What am i doing wrong?

Answer 1

It opens the command interpreter because that's what cmd.exe is. You need to specify /C to tell the cmd process to close after it has interpreted your commands.
On top of that you need to take care of the working directory. Unless the .sql file is in the working directory, the dump process will not find it. And the working directory is inherited from the parent process since you did not specify it. You may need to specify the working directory.
Finally, ShellExecute is really the wrong solution here. You are only using it to get the stdout redirection. But that should really be done explicitly. Use CreateProcess instead.

Answer 2

Of curse you can :
var
BatFile : TStringList;
str: string;
const
EXEC = 'MySqlDump.exe -u root -p[password] [databasename] > TheOutputFile.Sql' ;
begin
BatFile := TStringList.Create;
BatFile.Text := EXEC ;
str := ExtractFilePath(Application.ExeName) + 's.bat';
BatFile.SaveToFile(str);
BatFile.Free;
ShellExecuteW(Handle, 'open', PWideChar(str), nil, nil, SW_HIDE);
Sleep(200);
ShowMessage('Done.');
DeleteFile(str);
end;