# File lib/dbi/utils.rb, line 35
  def Utils.parse_params(str)
    params = str.split(";")
    hash = {}
    params.each do |param| 
      key, val = param.split("=") 
      hash[key] = val if key and val
    end 
    if hash.empty?
      database, host = str.split(":")
      hash['database'] = database if database
      hash['host']     = host if host   
    end
    hash 
  end