public Hashtable getDictionary(Hashtable dictionaryEntries, String key) {
        Object o = getObject(dictionaryEntries, key);
        if (o instanceof Hashtable) {
            return (Hashtable) o;
        } else if (o instanceof Vector) {
            Vector v = (Vector) o;
            Hashtable h1 = new Hashtable();
            for (Enumeration e = v.elements(); e.hasMoreElements();) {
                Object o1 = e.nextElement();
                if (o1 instanceof Map) {
                    h1.putAll((Map) o1);
                }
            }
            return h1;
        }
        return null;
    }