diff --git a/lib/convenience.js b/lib/convenience.js
index 49de6206..6421ef53 100644
--- a/lib/convenience.js
+++ b/lib/convenience.js
@@ -1,17 +1,45 @@
+/* -*- mode: js; js-basic-offset: 4; indent-tabs-mode: nil -*- */
+
 const Gettext = imports.gettext;
 const Gio = imports.gi.Gio;
 
-function initTranslations(metadata) {
-    let localeDir = metadata.dir.get_child('locale').get_path();
-    Gettext.bindtextdomain('gnome-shell-extensions', localeDir);
+const ExtensionUtils = imports.misc.extensionUtils;
+
+/**
+ * initTranslations:
+ * @domain: (optional): the gettext domain to use
+ *
+ * Initialize Gettext to load translations from extensionsdir/locale.
+ * If @domain is not provided, it will be taken from metadata['gettext-domain']
+ */
+function initTranslations(domain) {
+    let extension = ExtensionUtils.getCurrentExtension();
+
+    domain = domain || extension.metadata['gettext-domain'];
+
+    let localeDir = extension.dir.get_child('locale').get_path();
+    Gettext.bindtextdomain(domain, localeDir);
 }
 
-function getSettings(metadata, extension_id) {
-    let schemaDir = metadata.dir.get_child('schemas').get_path();
+/**
+ * getSettings:
+ * @schema: (optional): the GSettings schema id
+ *
+ * Builds and return a GSettings schema for @schema, using schema files
+ * in extensionsdir/schemas. If @schema is not provided, it is taken from
+ * metadata['settings-schema'].
+ */
+function getSettings(schema) {
+    let extension = ExtensionUtils.getCurrentExtension();
+
+    schema = schema || extension.metadata['settings-schema'];
+
+    let schemaDir = extension.dir.get_child('schemas').get_path();
     let schemaSource = Gio.SettingsSchemaSource.new_from_directory(schemaDir,
-								  Gio.SettingsSchemaSource.get_default(),
-								  false);
-    let schema = schemaSource.lookup('org.gnome.shell.extensions.' + extension_id, false);
-    return new Gio.Settings({ settings_schema: schema });
+                                                                   Gio.SettingsSchemaSource.get_default(),
+                                                                   false);
+    let schemaObj = schemaSource.lookup(schema, false);
+
+    return new Gio.Settings({ settings_schema: schemaObj });
 }