MYSQL LEFT JOIN optimization with CASE

Question

I spent some time trying to get working this SELECT with CASE but I failed... (thank to that I'm using COLASCE() now)

How could I optimize this SELECT by using CASE/IF sentences? Is this a fast way to query from different tables selected by a field?

SELECT a.folderid, a.foldername, a.contenttype, COALESCE(b.descriptor, c.descriptor, d.descriptor, e.descriptor, f.descriptor) as descriptor
FROM t_folders a
LEFT JOIN t_files b
ON a.contenttype = 'file' AND a.contentid = b.fileid
LEFT JOIN t_links c
ON a.contenttype = 'link' AND a.contentid = c.linkid
LEFT JOIN t_extfiles d
ON a.contenttype = 'extfile' AND a.contentid = d.extfileid
LEFT JOIN t_videos e
ON a.contenttype = 'video' AND a.contentid = e.videoid
LEFT JOIN t_exams f
ON a.contenttype = 'exam' AND a.contentid = f.examid
WHERE a.folderid = $folderId
ORDER BY a.folderid DESC

Answer 1

Using case statement will not make the query faster in your case, but since you asked for it, below is how it would look like.

SELECT a.folderid, a.foldername, a.contenttype, 
    (CASE a.contenttype
        WHEN 'file' THEN b.descriptor
        WHEN 'link' THEN c.descriptor
        WHEN 'extfile' THEN d.descriptor
        WHEN 'video' THEN e.descriptor
        ELSE f.descriptor
    END CASE) AS descriptor
FROM t_folders a
LEFT JOIN t_files b ON a.contenttype = 'file' AND a.contentid = b.fileid
LEFT JOIN t_links c ON a.contenttype = 'link' AND a.contentid = c.linkid
LEFT JOIN t_extfiles d ON a.contenttype = 'extfile' AND a.contentid = d.extfileid
LEFT JOIN t_videos e ON a.contenttype = 'video' AND a.contentid = e.videoid
LEFT JOIN t_exams f ON a.contenttype = 'exam' AND a.contentid = f.examid
WHERE a.folderid = $folderId
ORDER BY a.folderid DESC

If each of the t_files, t_links, etc tables has the folder_id field, I would also try doing a UNION on these tables and then left join the result with t_folders to get the folderid and foldername.