diff --git a/db/apichanges.xml b/db/apichanges.xml
--- a/db/apichanges.xml
+++ b/db/apichanges.xml
@@ -105,6 +105,20 @@
     <!-- ACTUAL CHANGES BEGIN HERE: -->
 
     <changes>
+        <change>
+            <api name="database_explorer_api"/>
+            <summary>Add ability to test a connection for validity</summary>
+            <version major="1" minor="29"/>
+            <date day="15" month="8" year="2008"/>
+            <author login="davidvc"/>
+            <compatibility addition="yes"/>
+            <description>
+                This change allows you to make sure a DatabaseConnection is valid
+                before you use it to issue commands to the database.
+            </description>
+            <class package="org.netbeans.api.db.explorer" name="DatabaseConnection"/>
+            <issue number="143837"/>
+        </change>
         <change>
             <api name="database_explorer_api"/>
             <summary>Add ability to get the underlying JDBC Driver instance for a JDBCDriver</summary>
diff --git a/db/arch.xml b/db/arch.xml
--- a/db/arch.xml
+++ b/db/arch.xml
@@ -339,6 +339,14 @@
      method.
    </p>
   </usecase>
+ <usecase id="test-connection" name="Test a database connection for validity">
+   <p>
+    You may want to test to make sure a connection is open and valid before you
+    use it to issue a command to the database.  This can be achieved using the
+    <a href="@TOP@org/netbeans/api/db/explorer/DatabaseConnection.html#test()">DatabaseConnection.test()</a>
+    method 
+   </p>
+  </usecase>
   <usecase id="connections-combo-box" name="Displaying the database connections in the UI">
    <p>
     A component which provides database functionality (such as the SQL Editor
diff --git a/db/src/org/netbeans/api/db/explorer/DatabaseConnection.java b/db/src/org/netbeans/api/db/explorer/DatabaseConnection.java
--- a/db/src/org/netbeans/api/db/explorer/DatabaseConnection.java
+++ b/db/src/org/netbeans/api/db/explorer/DatabaseConnection.java
@@ -226,6 +226,15 @@
     }
 
     /**
+     * Test whether the connection is still valid
+     *
+     * @return true if the connection is valid, false otherwise
+     */
+    public boolean test() {
+        return delegate.test();
+    }
+
+    /**
      * Returns a string representation of the database connection.
      */
     public String toString() {
diff --git a/db/src/org/netbeans/modules/db/explorer/DatabaseConnection.java b/db/src/org/netbeans/modules/db/explorer/DatabaseConnection.java
--- a/db/src/org/netbeans/modules/db/explorer/DatabaseConnection.java
+++ b/db/src/org/netbeans/modules/db/explorer/DatabaseConnection.java
@@ -212,6 +212,22 @@
             }
         }
         return useDriver;
+    }
+
+    public boolean test() {
+        try {
+            Connection conn = getJDBCConnection();
+            if (conn == null || conn.isClosed()) {
+                return false;
+            }
+
+            // Send a command to the server, if it fails we know the connection is invalid.
+            conn.getMetaData().getTables(null, null, " ", new String[] { "TABLE" }).close();
+        } catch (SQLException e) {
+            return false;
+        }
+        return true;
+
     }
 
      private Collection getOpenConnections() {
diff --git a/db/test/unit/src/org/netbeans/api/db/explorer/DatabaseConnectionTest.java b/db/test/unit/src/org/netbeans/api/db/explorer/DatabaseConnectionTest.java
--- a/db/test/unit/src/org/netbeans/api/db/explorer/DatabaseConnectionTest.java
+++ b/db/test/unit/src/org/netbeans/api/db/explorer/DatabaseConnectionTest.java
@@ -117,5 +117,15 @@
         
         ConnectionManager.getDefault().removeConnection(dbconn);
         assertEquals(0, ConnectionManager.getDefault().getConnections().length);
-    }    
+    }
+
+    public void testTestConnection() throws Exception {
+        DatabaseConnection dbconn = getDatabaseConnection();
+        ConnectionManager.getDefault().disconnect(dbconn);
+        assertFalse(dbconn.test());
+
+        ConnectionManager.getDefault().connect(dbconn);
+
+        assertTrue(dbconn.test());
+    }
 }
diff --git a/db/test/unit/src/org/netbeans/modules/db/util/DBTestBase.java b/db/test/unit/src/org/netbeans/modules/db/util/DBTestBase.java
--- a/db/test/unit/src/org/netbeans/modules/db/util/DBTestBase.java
+++ b/db/test/unit/src/org/netbeans/modules/db/util/DBTestBase.java
@@ -89,8 +89,8 @@
     private static int    unquotedCaseRule = RULE_UNDEFINED;
     private static int    quotedCaseRule = RULE_UNDEFINED;
 
-    private static JDBCDriver jdbcDriver;
-    private static DatabaseConnection dbConnection;
+    private JDBCDriver jdbcDriver;
+    private DatabaseConnection dbConnection;
     
     protected Connection conn;
 
@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@
         super(name);
     }
 
-    protected static JDBCDriver getJDBCDriver() throws Exception{
+    protected JDBCDriver getJDBCDriver() throws Exception{
         if (jdbcDriver == null) {
             jdbcDriver = JDBCDriver.create("derbydriver", "derbydriver", driverClass, new URL[] {driverJarUrl});
             assertNotNull(jdbcDriver);
@@ -113,7 +113,7 @@
      * Get the DatabaseConnection for the configured Java DB database.  This
      * method will create and register the connection the first time it is called
      */
-    protected static DatabaseConnection getDatabaseConnection() throws Exception {
+    protected DatabaseConnection getDatabaseConnection() throws Exception {
         if (dbConnection == null) {
             JDBCDriver driver = getJDBCDriver();