Class Cast Exception when using single character key

I am getting a class cast exception from Freemarker when using a lookup key that is just a single character:

Caused by: java.lang.ClassCastException: java.lang.Character cannot be cast to java.lang.String
        at java.lang.String$CaseInsensitiveComparator.compare(String.java:1211)
        at java.util.TreeMap.getEntryUsingComparator(TreeMap.java:351)
        at java.util.TreeMap.getEntry(TreeMap.java:322)
        at java.util.TreeMap.get(TreeMap.java:255)
        at freemarker.template.SimpleHash.get(SimpleHash.java:203)
        at freemarker.core.Dot._getAsTemplateModel(Dot.java:76)
        at freemarker.core.Expression.getAsTemplateModel(Expression.java:89)
        at freemarker.core.Assignment.accept(Assignment.java:90)
        at freemarker.core.Environment.visit(Environment.java:208)
        at freemarker.core.MixedContent.accept(MixedContent.java:92)
...

I took a look at the source and I don't see any way around it except using more than one character as my key:

>From SimpleHash.get(String key), line 199:

if(key.length() == 1) {
      // just check for Character key if this is a single-character string
      Character charKey = new Character(key.charAt(0));
      result = map.get(charKey);
      if (result == null && !(map.containsKey(key) || map.containsKey(charKey))) {
            return null;
      }
      else {
            putKey = charKey;
      }
}
else if(!map.containsKey(key)) {
      return null;
}
else {
      putKey = key;
}

It looks like TreeMap is being used as the implementation of the map field in SimpleHash and when TreeMap runs through the tree trying to find the right value, it tries to compare another key stored as a String to this Character object that Freemarker is requesting.  Any idea why the key is being converted to a Character and is there any way around it?  I don't see the same thing happening on SimpleHash.put() so I find it really strange that it would happen on get().

Thanks,
Cameron

Cameron Hinkle  |  Senior Application Engineer  |  Nike DCIT  |  503.532.3075  |  7. Evolve Immediately |

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