Get an element with or without properties

def _get_element(name, element_type, server=None, with_properties=True):
    '''
    Get an element with or without properties
    '''
    element = {}
    name = quote(name, safe='')
    data = _api_get('{0}/{1}'.format(element_type, name), server)

    # Format data, get properties if asked, and return the whole thing
    if any(data['extraProperties']['entity']):
        for key, value in data['extraProperties']['entity'].items():
            element[key] = value
        if with_properties:
            element['properties'] = _get_element_properties(name, element_type)
        return element
    return None