code: private boolean isEmptyAttribute(Attribute a) {
  		try {
  			return (a == null || a.size() == 0 || a.get() == null);
  		}
  		catch (NamingException e) {
  			return true;
  		}
  	}
docs: returns true if the attribute is empty. It is empty if a == null, size ==
  0 or get() == null or an exception if thrown when accessing the get
  method