docs: def _toDict(datastorage_obj,recursive=True):
      """ this is the recursive part of the toDict (otherwise it fails when converting to DataStorage """
      if "items" not in dir(datastorage_obj): return datastorage_obj
      d = dict()
      for k, v in datastorage_obj.items():
          try:
              d[k] = _toDict(v)
          except Exception as e:
              log.info("In toDict, could not convert key %s to dict, error was %s" %
                       (k, e))
              d[k] = v
      return d