// o is either a map already (string->object) or an arbitrary object,

// in which case its fields are converted into a map.

static Map<S, O> objectToMap(O o) ctex {

  if (o instanceof Map) ret (Map) o;

  if (o == null) null;

  new TreeMap<S, O> map;

  Class c = o.getClass();

  while (c != Object.class) {

    Field[] fields = c.getDeclaredFields();

    for (final Field field : fields) {

      if ((field.getModifiers() & Modifier.STATIC) != 0)

        continue;

      field.setAccessible(true);

      final Object value = field.get(o);

      if (value != null)

        map.put(field.getName(), value);

    }

    c = c.getSuperclass();

  }

  // XXX NEW - hopefully this doesn't break anything

  if (o instanceof DynamicObject)

    putAll(map, o/DynamicObject.fieldValues);

  ret map;

}

// same for a collection (convert each element)

static L<Map<S, O>> objectToMap(Iterable l) {

  if (l == null) null;

  new L x;

  for (O o : l)

    x.add(objectToMap(o));

  ret x;

}