# The blade control file

The blade control file enables you to tell the Deployment Framework which other Platform blades a blade requires and which blades it’s incompatible with.

**📌 NOTE**\
This feature is available in releases of the Deployment Framework from 6.0.4 onwards

The file is called _control_ and must be located in the root directory of the blade.

For example: _<Framework-root>/kits/TradeFXBlade/TradeFXBlade/control_

It’s a text file with the following format:

```
Type: JTMBlade
Conflicts: <blade-name> <blade-name> ...
Depends: <blade-name> <blade-name> ...
Suggests: <blade-name> <blade-name> ...
```

Each line is optional (except `Type:` for Transformer Service blades written in Java - see below), but there must be at least one line in the file.

## Type JTMBlade

Only add this line if your blade is a Transformer Service blade written in Java; see How To... [Create a Java-based Transformer Service Blade](cdf-create-a-java-based-transformer-service-blade.md).

## Conflicts

This defines a list of blades that your blade conflicts with. If your blade is active then none of the blades in this list should be active. The syntax allows multiple lines; for example:

```
Conflicts: BladeA BladeB
Conflicts: BladeC
```

This example means when your blade is active, `BladeA`, `BladeB` and `BladeC` must all be set inactive, otherwise any attempt to start the Framework will fail, displaying a message detailing the conflict.

## Depends

This defines the blades that your blade requires to work. If your blade is active then these blades must also be active. The syntax allows multiple lines; for example:

```
Depends: BladeA BladeB
Depends: BladeC
```

This example means that when your blade is active, either `BladeA` or `BladeB` (or both) must be active, _and_ `BladeC` must be active too. If this condition isn’t met, any attempt to start the Framework will fail, displaying a message describing the problem.

## Suggests

This is syntacticly like `Depends:`

For example:

```
Suggests: BladeD BladeE
Suggests: BladeF
```

`Suggests:` means that the blades you specify are ones that your active blade will work better with but doesn’t absolutely require to be active to in order to function properly. If this condition isn’t met, the Framework can still be started, but a message describing any conflict is displayed.

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**See also:**

* [Active and inactive blades](cdf-active-and-inactive-blades.md)
* [Activate and deactivate blades](cdf-activate-and-deactivate-blades.md)