Export Database into a SQL file with CakePHP

index.ctp

<?php echo $this->Form->postButton("Exporter", array('action' => 'export'), array('class' => 'btn btn-primary')); ?>

Setting.php

<?php
class Setting extends AppModel {
    public $useTable = false;


     /**
     * Exporte la base de donnees dans un format .sql
     * un fichier est cree dans App/webroot/files/sql_dump
     * un autre fichier est telecharge dans par le navigateur
     *
     * @access  public
     * @return  string|null     le nom de la base, null si erreur
     */
    public function exportDatabase() {
        /**
         * Recupere la configuration de la base de donnees
         */
        App::uses('ConnectionManager', 'Model');
        $dataSource = ConnectionManager::getDataSource('default');
        $database = $dataSource->config['database'];

        // commentaires sql de l'en-tete
        $content  = "--\n";
        $content .= "-- Pierre Baron \n";
        $content .= "-- export de la base `".$database."` au ".date("d-m-Y")."\n";
        $content .= "--\n\n\n";


        // commentaires sql
        $content .= "-- -----------------------------\n";
        $content .= "-- creation de la base `".$database."`\n";
        $content .= "-- -----------------------------\n";
        $content .= "CREATE DATABASE `" .$database. "` DEFAULT CHARACTER SET latin1 COLLATE latin1_swedish_ci;\n";
        $content .= "USE `" + $database +"`;\n\n";
        $content .= "-- --------------------------------------------------------\n\n";


        $tables = $this->query('show tables');
        foreach($tables as $k => $v){
            foreach($v['TABLE_NAMES'] as $table) {

                // commentaires sql
                $content .= "--\n";
                $content .= "-- Structure de la table `".$table."`\n";
                $content .= "--\n";

                $structures = $this->query("show create table `".$table."`");
                foreach($structures as $s) {
                    $content .= $s[0]['Create Table'].";\n\n";

                    $content .= "--\n";
                    $content .= "-- entrees dans la table `".$table."`\n";
                    $content .= "--\n";

                    $entries = $this->query("SELECT * FROM `".$table."`");
                    foreach($entries as $entry) {
                        $content .= "INSERT INTO ".$table." (";

                        /**
                        * on entre tous les champs a remplir
                        * ce sont les cles du tableau $e[$table]
                        */
                        $i = 0;
                        foreach($entry[$table] as $entryKey => $vv) {
                            $entryKey = addslashes($entryKey);
                            $content .= "`".$entryKey."`";
                            $i++;
                            if($i < count($entry[$table]))
                                $content .=", ";
                        }

                        $content .= ") VALUES (";

                        /**
                        * on entre toutes les entrees
                        * ce sont les valeurs du tableau $e[$table]
                        */
                        $j = 0;
                        foreach($entry[$table] as $ee => $entryValue) {
                            $entryValue = addslashes($entryValue);
                            debug($entryValue);
                            $content .= "'".$entryValue."'";
                            $j++;
                            if($j < count($entry[$table]))
                                $content .=", ";
                        }
                        $content .= ");\n";
                    }
                    $content .= "\n\n";
                    $content .= "-- --------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n";

                }
            }
        }

        /**
         * Cree le fichier de sauvegarde.
         * il se trouve dans "app/webroot/files/sql_dump/"
         */
        App::uses('File', 'Utility');

        $filename = "files".DS."sql_dump".DS .$database. "_" .date("d-m-Y_H-i-s"). ".sql";

        $file = new File($filename, true);

        $d['file'] = $filename;
        $d['database'] = $database;

        if($file->append($content, true)) {
            return $d;
        } else {
            return false;
        }
    }
}

SettingsController.php

<?php
class SettingsController extends AppController {
    index(){}
	/**
	 * Exporte la base de donnees
	 *
 	 * @access	public
	 * @return	void
	 */
	public function export() {
		/**
		 * on recupere le nom du fichier exporte
		 *
		 * La methode exportDatabase() est definie dans app/Model/Setting.php
		 */
		$d = $this->Setting->exportDatabase();

		/**
		 * si le fichier existe bien
		 * On va l'enregistrer sur l'ordinateur
		 */
		if($d['database']){
            // message de succès
		}
		// redirection
	}	
}

Hi :)
Please take a look to my fork, just a little patch :

https://gist.github.com/theredfish/20cc8f0236a7a5ab1939