code: public URL getURL(final String pUrl) {
  
          try {
              return new URL(pUrl);
          } catch (final MalformedURLException e) {
              throw new ConversionException("Cannot parse URL from string " + pUrl, e);
          }
      }
docs: Converts a String representing an URL to an {@link URL} or throw a
  {@link org.apache.commons.configuration.ConversionException}.
  
  @param pUrl
  a URL as a string
  @return an URL object