CakePHP MYSQL issue reading the recent updated row - php

Question

Guys I am using CakePHP and having an issue related to fetching the recent updated flag I set in the DB.
Here is the code
$this->loadModel('Setting');
$s=$this->Setting->find('first');
if($s['Setting']['inprogress']==1)
{
echo "still working...";
exit;
}
$s['Setting']['inprogress']=1;
$this->Setting->Save($s);
//// Some code that is using db table and process data for like 30-40 seconds
$s['Setting']['inprogress']=0;
$this->Setting->Save($s);
exit;
This code is run by the cron job and the check is to make sure the next cron job doesn't touch the data before the first one finishes. But apparently the cron jobs are running in parallel as they don't getting the inprogress=1 at all.
However, If I check the record manually using PHPMyAdmin the inprogress flag goes 1 immediately but somehow it won't be available for the next http call.
Any idea?

Answer 1

Why don't you just use saveField?
So, instead of
$s['Setting']['inprogress']=1;
$this->Setting->Save($s);
you can have
$this->Setting->saveField('inprogress', 1);
or better, to be sure, in case other finds are done on the Setting model between your saved, you can do
$id = $s['Setting']['id'];
$this->Setting->id = $id;
$this->Setting->saveField('inprogress', 1);