code: def get_properties(self, names):
          
          if not isinstance(names, basestring):
              raise TypeError("names can only be an instance of type basestring")
          (return_values, return_names) = self._call("getProperties",
                       in_p=[names])
          return (return_values, return_names)
docs: Returns values for a group of properties in one call.
          
          The names of the properties to get are specified using the @a names
          argument which is a list of comma-separated property names or
          an empty string if all properties are to be returned.
          Currently the value of this argument is ignored and the method
          always returns all existing properties.
          
          The list of all properties supported by the given medium format can
          be obtained with :py:func:`IMediumFormat.describe_properties` .
          
          The method returns two arrays, the array of property names corresponding
          to the @a names argument and the current values of these properties.
          Both arrays have the same number of elements with each element at the
          given index in the first array corresponds to an element at the same
          index in the second array.
          
          For properties that do not have assigned values, an empty string is
          returned at the appropriate index in the @a returnValues array.
  
          in names of type str
              Names of properties to get.
  
          out return_names of type str
              Names of returned properties.
  
          return return_values of type str
              Values of returned properties.