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Akeeba Backup for Joomla!

#12169 Database Tables Exclusion Button Not Working

Posted in ‘Akeeba Backup for Joomla! 4 & 5’
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Environment Information

Joomla! version
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PHP version
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Akeeba Backup version
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Latest post by nicholas on Friday, 04 May 2012 09:00 CDT

Thursday, 03 May 2012 19:08 CDT

topwebs
Mandatory information about my setup:

Have I read the related troubleshooter articles above before posting (which pages?)? Yes
Have I searched the tickets before posting? yes
Have I read the documentation before posting (which pages?)? Yes
Joomla! version: 2.5.4
PHP version: 5.3.5
MySQL version: 5.0.45
Host: localhost (WAMP)
Akeeba Backup version: 3.4.3

EXTREMELY IMPORTANT: Please attach a ZIP file containing your Akeeba Backup log file in order for us to help you with any backup or restoration issue. If the file is over 2Mb, please upload it on your server and post a link to it.

Description of my issue: The button Exclude Non-Core Tables has no effect on the visual table filters. I assume using the button should immediately exclude the non-core tables. I am using Chrome browser.

Friday, 04 May 2012 01:22 CDT

nicholas
It works, but in a different way than what you think. When you click it, it starts "clicking" on each and every non-core table. If you scroll the list downwards, you will see that non-core tables begin being excluded one by one, as if you were clicking on them.

If you want to quickly exclude all non core tables, you will need to add a RegEx Database Table filter like this:
!@^#__@

This will tell Akeeba Backup to exclude all non-core tables. The excluded tables will then appear in red in the tables list.

Nicholas K. Dionysopoulos

Lead Developer and Director

🇬🇷Greek: native 🇬🇧English: excellent 🇫🇷French: basic • 🕐 My time zone is Europe / Athens
Please keep in mind my timezone and cultural differences when reading my replies. Thank you!

Friday, 04 May 2012 07:38 CDT

topwebs
No, the button does nothing, no matter how long I wait. It is non-functional.

Friday, 04 May 2012 07:39 CDT

nicholas
Well, do you have any tables whose prefix is not #__ in that list?

Nicholas K. Dionysopoulos

Lead Developer and Director

🇬🇷Greek: native 🇬🇧English: excellent 🇫🇷French: basic • 🕐 My time zone is Europe / Athens
Please keep in mind my timezone and cultural differences when reading my replies. Thank you!

Friday, 04 May 2012 08:10 CDT

topwebs
No, just a number of non-core extension tables. I have tried it in Firefox, just to make sure it was not a browser issue, and it doesn't work there either. I have just installed the Akeeba Backup Pro.

Friday, 04 May 2012 08:12 CDT

nicholas
In this case you didn't understand what I'm writing at the documentation. This button will exclude all database table which do not belong to your current Joomla! installation, i.e. all the tables whose prefix is not #__. It will not exclude the tables of third party extensions. No, it's not possible to create something like that because the tables and data in core tables of third party extensions is not recorded anywhere inside Joomla!.

Nicholas K. Dionysopoulos

Lead Developer and Director

🇬🇷Greek: native 🇬🇧English: excellent 🇫🇷French: basic • 🕐 My time zone is Europe / Athens
Please keep in mind my timezone and cultural differences when reading my replies. Thank you!

Friday, 04 May 2012 08:22 CDT

topwebs
Well, excluding a non-core table would mean to most people, excluding all tables not present in the standard joomla core install. This would be a useful function, as I am maintaining a master site with all extensions. Using that kind of button would exclude all third party extension tables and I could then add in the ones I wanted.

It seems to me, that this would be simple to create. You just have to have a list of the core tables per Joomla version and exclude any tables not on that list. Please take that as a feature request.

Friday, 04 May 2012 08:26 CDT

nicholas
Yeah, I know that the label is a little misleading. My original thought of the more precise "Exclude all tables which do not have the same prefix as the one used by the site you are going to back up" was a little too long :(

Even if you exclude the tables of third party extensions, it still does not exclude the extensions themselves. They still leave a lot of data behind in several tables, e.g. #__assets, #__extensions, #__modules and so on. Removing all of that data is a major feat (read: mission impossible). It's not that I haven't tried implementing such a feature. I just gave up because it quickly became clear that it was very hard with Joomla! 1.5 and nigh impossible with Joomla! 1.6 and later versions.

Nicholas K. Dionysopoulos

Lead Developer and Director

🇬🇷Greek: native 🇬🇧English: excellent 🇫🇷French: basic • 🕐 My time zone is Europe / Athens
Please keep in mind my timezone and cultural differences when reading my replies. Thank you!

Friday, 04 May 2012 08:48 CDT

topwebs
You already have a feature that excludes extensions in the other tables. I understand that you can't figure out which tables go with which extension. I am just saying that if the button did what it said (excluding all third party extension tables), by comparing with the core table list, it would be quite useful. I don't know about others, but I never have tables without #__, so the current function has no utility for me.

Friday, 04 May 2012 08:57 CDT

nicholas
Well, even though I could do what you propose, it would be useless because it would still not do what you expect it to do (exclude third party extensions). Why spend time on a feature with no practical use? The currently existing feature, even though you don't need it, still has a practical use. Many people host several sites on the same database. Each site has a different prefix set up. They want to easily exclude the tables of the other sites. That's the practical use of that button, exactly as I say in the documentation.

Nicholas K. Dionysopoulos

Lead Developer and Director

🇬🇷Greek: native 🇬🇧English: excellent 🇫🇷French: basic • 🕐 My time zone is Europe / Athens
Please keep in mind my timezone and cultural differences when reading my replies. Thank you!

Friday, 04 May 2012 08:59 CDT

topwebs
Oh, I forgot about tables of other sites. Thanks for your explanations and for a great extension.

Friday, 04 May 2012 09:00 CDT

nicholas
You're welcome!

Nicholas K. Dionysopoulos

Lead Developer and Director

🇬🇷Greek: native 🇬🇧English: excellent 🇫🇷French: basic • 🕐 My time zone is Europe / Athens
Please keep in mind my timezone and cultural differences when reading my replies. Thank you!

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