I have checked this question as well and this one as well. I am trying to implement the model described in this question.

What I want to do is, on the add function of message controller, create a record in thread table(this table only has 1 field which is primary key and auto increment), then take its id and insert it in the message table along with the user id which i already have, and then save it in message_read_state and thread_participant table.

This is what I am trying to do in Thread Model:

function saveThreadAndGetId(){
    //$data= array('Thread' => array());
    $data= array('id' => ' ');
   //Debugger::dump(print_r($data));
   $this->save($data);
   debug('id: '.$this->id);
    $threadId = $this->getInsertID();
    debug($threadId);
    $threadId = $this->getLastInsertId();
    debug($threadId);
    die();
    return $threadId;
}


$data= array('id' => ' ');

This line from the above function adds a row in the thread table, but i am unable to retrieve the id. Is there any way I can get the id, or am I saving it wrongly?

Initially I was doing the query thing in the message controller:

$this->Thread->query('INSERT INTO threads VALUES();');

but then i found out that lastId function doesnt work on manual queries so i reverted.