concentrate the "Configurable" functionality in one class with the intention to use it wider

modules/Bio/EnsEMBL/Hive/Configurable.pm

+# A base class for objects that we want to be configurable in the following sense:
+#   1) have a pointer to the $config
+#   2) know their context
+#   3) automatically apply that context when getting and setting
+
+package Bio::EnsEMBL::Hive::Configurable;
+
+use strict;
+use warnings;
+
+
+sub config {
+    my $self = shift @_;
+
+    if(@_) {
+        $self->{'_config'} = shift @_;
+    }
+    return $self->{'_config'};
+}
+
+
+sub context {
+    my $self = shift @_;
+
+    if(@_) {
+        $self->{'_context'} = shift @_;
+    }
+    return $self->{'_context'};
+}
+
+
+sub config_get {
+    my $self = shift @_;
+
+    return $self->config->get( @{$self->context}, @_ );
+}
+
+
+sub config_set {
+    my $self = shift @_;
+
+    return $self->config->set( @{$self->context}, @_ );
+}
+
+
+1;

modules/Bio/EnsEMBL/Hive/Meadow.pm

@@ -7,6 +7,8 @@ package Bio::EnsEMBL::Hive::Meadow;
 use strict;
 use warnings;
 
+use base ('Bio::EnsEMBL::Hive::Configurable');
+
 
 sub new {
     my ($class, $config) = @_;
@@ -14,6 +16,7 @@ sub new {
     my $self = bless {}, $class;
 
     $self->config( $config );
+    $self->context( [ 'Meadow', $self->type, $self->name ] );
 
     return $self;
 }
@@ -35,30 +38,6 @@ sub signature {
 }
 
 
-sub config {
-    my $self = shift @_;
-
-    if(@_) {
-        $self->{'_config'} = shift @_;
-    }
-    return $self->{'_config'};
-}
-
-
-sub config_get {
-    my $self = shift @_;
-
-    return $self->config->get('Meadow', $self->type, $self->name, @_);
-}
-
-
-sub config_set {
-    my $self = shift @_;
-
-    return $self->config->set('Meadow', $self->type, $self->name, @_);
-}
-
-
 sub pipeline_name { # if set, provides a filter for job-related queries
     my $self = shift @_;