private static String tryToGet(StringMap smap, String key) {
   if (smap.has_key(key)) {
     return smap.get(key);
   } else {
     return "";
   }
 }
  public static VectMap convertFromNativeToSwig(List creds) {
    ArrayList<HashMap<String, String>> todecode = (ArrayList<HashMap<String, String>>) creds;
    VectMap toReturn = new VectMap();

    for (HashMap<String, String> aTodecode : todecode) {
      toReturn.add(StringMap.toSwig(aTodecode));
    }
    return toReturn;
  }