// compares connection dictionaries, undefined plugin is not the same as plugin = ""
// even though it semantically is the same. So we are normalizing our connection
// dictionaries here by removing blank keys that we know about.
String pluginCheck = (String)newConnectionDictionary.objectForKey("plugin");
if (pluginCheck != null && pluginCheck.length() == 0){
newConnectionDictionary.removeObjectForKey("plugin");
}
String driverCheck = (String)newConnectionDictionary.objectForKey("driver");
if (driverCheck != null && driverCheck.length() == 0){
newConnectionDictionary.removeObjectForKey("driver");
}