code: public static String validateURL(final String propertiesURL) {
          if (TraceComponent.isAnyTracingEnabled() && tc.isDebugEnabled())
              Tr.debug(tc, "Existing propertiesURL: " + propertiesURL);
          int end = 0;
  
          // get rid of all of the / or \ after file: and replace with just /
          char c;
          for (int i = propertiesURL.indexOf(':', 0) + 1; i < propertiesURL.length(); i++) {
              c = propertiesURL.charAt(i);
              if (c != '/' && c != '\\') {
                  end = i;
                  break;
              }
          }
  
          String rc = "file:/" + propertiesURL.substring(end);
          if (TraceComponent.isAnyTracingEnabled() && tc.isDebugEnabled())
              Tr.debug(tc, "New propertiesURL: " + rc);
          return rc;
      }
docs: *
  This method tries to normalize the ConfigURL value in an attempt to
  correct any URL parsing errors.
  
  @param propertiesURL
  @return String
  *