/**
 * Replace the wildcard-character with defined charater for SQL queries
 * 
 * @param var
 *            value to be checked and replaced with proper wildcard
 * 
 * @return formatted String
 */
 public static String processWildCard(String var) {
     final String WILDCARD = "*";
     final String ORWILDCARD = "%";
 
     if (var.indexOf(WILDCARD) != -1) {
         System.out.println(">> found wildcard at index: " + var.indexOf(WILDCARD));
          var = org.springframework.util.StringUtils.replace(var, WILDCARD, ORWILDCARD);
 
          return var.toUpperCase();
     } else {
         return var.toUpperCase();
     }
 }