code: public Element getStringPatternsElement() {
          final Element referenceDataCatalogElement = getReferenceDataCatalogElement();
  
          final Element stringPatternsElement =
                  getOrCreateChildElementByTagName(referenceDataCatalogElement, "string-patterns");
          if (stringPatternsElement == null) {
              throw new IllegalStateException("Could not find <string-patterns> element in configuration file");
          }
          return stringPatternsElement;
      }
docs: Gets the XML element that represents the string patterns
  
  @return