'Internal method: configure a *single* parameter
results: dict of results to update
method: config method name
param: arg=value (ignore if value=None)
value may also be list or dict'

def setParam(self, results, method, **param):

    (name, value) = param.items()[0]
    if (value is None):
        return
    f = getattr(self, method, None)
    if (not f):
        return
    if isinstance(value, list):
        result = f(*value)
    elif isinstance(value, dict):
        result = f(**value)
    else:
        result = f(value)
    results[name] = result
    return result
