@staticmethod
def arguments_to_dict(arguments):
    """
        converts a string of the form "a=1,b=2" to a dict
        {"a":"1", "b":"2"}
        all values are strings

        :param arguments: the argument string
        :return: a dic of argument and values
        """
    if arguments is None or len(arguments) == 0:
        return None
    parameters = {}
    for argument in arguments:
        key, value = arguments.split('=', 1)
        parameters[key] = value
    return parameters
