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# Reads a property file using the java properties object and returns a sorted list.
####################################################################
proc hashMap { propertiesFile } {

   set procName [ lindex [ info level 0 ] 0 ]

   putsLog "## proc - $procName"

   foreach i [ info args $procName ]  {

      upvar 0 $i ilocal

      set propertiesArray($i) $ilocal 

   }

   putsLog "procedure arguments are................."

   foreach { a b } [ array get propertiesArray ] {

       putsLog [ format "%-35s %s" "$a" "$b" ]

   }

   if { [ file exists $propertiesFile ] == 1 } {

      putsLog "File location confirmed for: $propertiesFile"

      } else {

          putsLog "ERROR: file $propertiesFile does not exist."
          return -code error 

   }

   java::import java.util.Properties
   java::import java.util.Hashtable
   java::import java.util.Map
   java::import java.io.FileInputStream

   set FileInputStreamI [ java::new FileInputStream $propertiesFile ]
   set PropertiesI      [ java::new Properties ]  

   $PropertiesI load $FileInputStreamI 

   #puts $hashTableList 

   return $PropertiesI

}