public function getParameter($as = self::AS_STRING) {
		if ($as == self::AS_SIMPLEXML) {
			//convert to SimpleXMLElement
			$success = simplexml_load_string($this->parameter);
				
			if ($success === false) {
				$error = libxml_get_last_error();
				throw new \RuntimeException("XML Syntax error: " . $error->message);
			}
				
			return $success;
		}
		elseif ($as == self::AS_DOM) {
			//convert to DOMDocument
			$dom = new \DOMDocument();
				
			if (!$dom->loadXML($this->parameter)) {
				$error = libxml_get_last_error();
				throw new \RuntimeException("XML Syntax error: " . $error->message);
			}
				
			return $dom;
		}
		
		return $this->parameter;
	}