Ok, so let me see if I understand the issue:
You have a base class that is responsible for creating a database connection.
It creates that based on configuration arguments, thus making this base class extensible -- you can use it for a variety of database instances.
You have a sub class that uses the base class.
This class needs to use the base class's database connection, but you don't want this sub class to send config data to the base class.
Is that an adequate description? You want to use the sub classes, which implicitly use the base class? Would it be too much to add 
use BaseClass;
BaseClass->connect(args...);

[download]
to the code that uses the sub-classes (that is, the main application)? It sounds like you're trying to give it configuration values without ever giving them. In that case, perhaps you should just use environment variables and be done with it. 
package BaseClass;

sub connect {
  ...
  $dbh = DBI->connect($ENV{PERRIN_DBI}, $ENV{PERRIN_USR}, $ENV{PERRIN_
+PWD});
  ...
}

[download]
Then you'd set those environment variables in your program (via BEGIN) or beforehand in your shell. It's basically the same as using globals, so if you're allergic to that, then this isn't for you either. ;)
_____________________________________________________
Jeff[japhy]Pinyan: Perl, regex, and perl hacker, who'd like a job (NYC-area)
s++=END;++y(;-P)}y js++=;shajsj<++y(p-q)}?print:??;

In reply to Re: Re: Re: dependencies and loose coupling by japhy
in thread dependencies and loose coupling by perrin

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
to format your post, it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":


  • Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!
  • Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.
  • Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.
  • Please read these before you post! —
  • Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:
    a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr
  • You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)
            For:     Use:
    & &amp;
    < &lt;
    > &gt;
    [ &#91;
    ] &#93;
  • Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?
  • See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.