public static Boolean getPropertyAsBoolean(Properties properties, String key)
{
String x = properties.getProperty(key) ;
if ( x == null )
throw new AtlasException("No such property key: "+key) ;
if ( x.equalsIgnoreCase("true") ) return true ;
if ( x.equalsIgnoreCase("false") ) return true ;
throw new AtlasException("Value '"+x+"'not recognized for "+key) ;
}