code: protected final String getConfigurationValue(String key)
      {
          //get value
          String value=this.monitorConfiguration.get(key);
          
          //trim value
          if(value!=null)
          {
              value=value.trim();
              
              //set as null if empty string
              if(value.length()==0)
              {
                  value=null;
              }
          }
          
          this.monitorLogger.logDebug(new Object[]{"Extracted configuration for key: ",key," value: ",value},null);
          
          return value;
      }
docs: Returns the value from the monitor configuration based on the provided
  configuration key.
  
  @param   key
  The configuration key
  @return  The value