protected function &_getNested($name)
{
$current = $this;
$null = null;
$path = explode('.', $name);
$length = count($path) - 1;
foreach ($path as $i => $key) {
if (!isset($current[$key])) {
return $null;
}
$current = $current[$key];
if (is_scalar($current) && $i < $length) {
return $null;
}
}
return $current;
}