plugin/checkstyle/src/main/java/se/jguru/nazgul/tools/plugin/checkstyle/CheckstyleReportGenerator.java
private String getConfigAttribute(Configuration config, ChainedItem<Configuration> parentConfiguration,
                                      String attributeName, String defaultValue) {
        String ret;
        try {
            ret = config.getAttribute(attributeName);
        } catch (CheckstyleException e) {
            // Try to find the attribute in a parent, if there are any
            if (parentConfiguration != null) {
                ret =
                        getConfigAttribute(parentConfiguration.value, parentConfiguration.parent, attributeName,
                                defaultValue);
            } else {
                ret = defaultValue;
            }
        }
        return ret;
    }
private String getConfigAttribute(Configuration config, ChainedItem<Configuration> parentConfiguration,
                                      String attributeName, String defaultValue) {
        String ret;
        try {
            ret = config.getAttribute(attributeName);
        } catch (CheckstyleException e) {
            // Try to find the attribute in a parent, if there are any
            if (parentConfiguration != null) {
                ret =
                        getConfigAttribute(parentConfiguration.value, parentConfiguration.parent, attributeName,
                                defaultValue);
            } else {
                ret = defaultValue;
            }
        }
        return ret;
    }
Get the value of the specified attribute from the Checkstyle configuration.
If parentConfigurations is non-null and non-empty, the parent
configurations are searched if the attribute cannot be found in the
current configuration. If the attribute is still not found, the
specified default value will be returned.

@param config              The current Checkstyle configuration
@param parentConfiguration The configuration of the parent of the current configuration
@param attributeName       The name of the attribute
@param defaultValue        The default value to use if the attribute cannot be found in any configuration
@return The value of the specified attribute