Added patch by Bernd Helmle <bernd.helmle@credativ.de> that adds a low level

function that returns the current transaction status.

doc/src/sgml/ecpg.sgml

-<!-- $PostgreSQL: pgsql/doc/src/sgml/ecpg.sgml,v 1.90 2009/07/11 21:15:32 petere Exp $ -->
+<!-- $PostgreSQL: pgsql/doc/src/sgml/ecpg.sgml,v 1.91 2009/09/18 13:13:32 meskes Exp $ -->
 
 <chapter id="ecpg">
  <title><application>ECPG</application> - Embedded <acronym>SQL</acronym> in C</title>
@@ -4753,6 +4753,31 @@ ECPG = ecpg
     </note>
    </listitem>
 
+   <listitem>
+     <para>
+       <function>ECPGget_PGconn(const char *<replaceable>connection_name</replaceable>)
+       </function> returns the library database connection handle identified by the given name.
+       If <replaceable>connection_name</replaceable> is set to <literal>NULL</literal>, the current
+       connection handle is returned. If no connection handle can be identified, the function returns 
+       <literal>NULL</literal>. The returned connection handle can be used to call any other functions
+       from <application>libpq</application>, if necessary.
+     </para>
+     <note>
+     <para>
+       It is a bad idea to manipulate database connection handles made from <application>ecpg</application> directly
+       with <application>libpq</application> routines.
+     </para>
+     </note>
+   </listitem>
+
+   <listitem>
+     <para>
+       <function>ECPGtransactionStatus(const char *<replaceable>connection_name</replaceable>)</function>
+       returns the current transaction status of the given connection identified by <replaceable>connection_name</replaceable>.
+       See <xref linkend="libpq-status"> and libpq's <function>PQtransactionStatus()</function> for details about the returned status codes.
+     </para>
+   </listitem>
+
    <listitem>
     <para>
      <function>ECPGstatus(int <replaceable>lineno</replaceable>,

src/interfaces/ecpg/ecpglib/exports.txt

-# $PostgreSQL: pgsql/src/interfaces/ecpg/ecpglib/exports.txt,v 1.5 2008/03/25 12:45:25 meskes Exp $
+# $PostgreSQL: pgsql/src/interfaces/ecpg/ecpglib/exports.txt,v 1.6 2009/09/18 13:13:32 meskes Exp $
 # Functions to be exported by ecpglib DLL
 ECPGallocate_desc                1
 ECPGconnect                      2
@@ -26,3 +26,4 @@ ECPGstatus                       23
 ECPGtrans                        24
 sqlprint                         25
 ECPGget_PGconn			 26
+ECPGtransactionStatus      27

src/interfaces/ecpg/ecpglib/misc.c

-/* $PostgreSQL: pgsql/src/interfaces/ecpg/ecpglib/misc.c,v 1.51 2009/09/03 09:09:01 meskes Exp $ */
+/* $PostgreSQL: pgsql/src/interfaces/ecpg/ecpglib/misc.c,v 1.52 2009/09/18 13:13:32 meskes Exp $ */
 
 #define POSTGRES_ECPG_INTERNAL
 #include "postgres_fe.h"
@@ -170,6 +170,21 @@ ECPGstatus(int lineno, const char *connection_name)
 	return (true);
 }
 
+PGTransactionStatusType
+ECPGtransactionStatus(const char *connection_name)
+{
+	const struct connection *con;
+
+	con = ecpg_get_connection(connection_name);
+	if (con == NULL) {
+		/* transaction status is unknown */
+		return PQTRANS_UNKNOWN;
+	}
+
+	return PQtransactionStatus(con->connection);
+
+}
+
 bool
 ECPGtrans(int lineno, const char *connection_name, const char *transaction)
 {

src/interfaces/ecpg/include/ecpglib.h

 /*
  * this is a small part of c.h since we don't want to leak all postgres
  * definitions into ecpg programs
- * $PostgreSQL: pgsql/src/interfaces/ecpg/include/ecpglib.h,v 1.79 2009/06/11 14:49:13 momjian Exp $
+ * $PostgreSQL: pgsql/src/interfaces/ecpg/include/ecpglib.h,v 1.80 2009/09/18 13:13:32 meskes Exp $
  */
 
 #ifndef _ECPGLIB_H
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ bool		ECPGdeallocate(int, int, const char *, const char *);
 bool		ECPGdeallocate_all(int, int, const char *);
 char	   *ECPGprepared_statement(const char *, const char *, int);
 PGconn	   *ECPGget_PGconn(const char *);
-
+PGTransactionStatusType ECPGtransactionStatus(const char *);
 
 char	   *ECPGerrmsg(void);