# File lib/new_relic/agent/attribute_processing.rb, line 31
      def flatten_and_coerce_hash(hash, prefix, result, &blk)
        if hash.empty?
          if blk
            blk.call(prefix, EMPTY_HASH_STRING_LITERAL)
          else
            result[prefix] = EMPTY_HASH_STRING_LITERAL
          end
        else
          hash.each do |key, val|
            next_prefix = prefix ? "#{prefix}.#{key}" : key.to_s
            flatten_and_coerce(val, next_prefix, result, &blk)
          end
        end
      end