# File lib/tapkit/control/keyvaluecoding.rb, line 14
                def retrieve_value( key )
                        object = nil
                        if respond_to? key then
                                object = __send__ key
                        elsif respond_to? :retrieve_stored_value then
                                object = retrieve_stored_value key
                        elsif directly? then
                                object = instance_eval "@#{key}"
                        else
                                begin
                                        object = handle_retrieve_value key
                                rescue UnknownKeyError
                                        _raise_error(self, key)
                                end
                        end
                        object
                end