Hello Raymond,
1. You may please type setcatenv -h in your workspace and it will display your context specific and generic help on various options used in the command.
2. Regarding your question: [-d <path>] option specifies the environment file storage folder and this is not a must-be-specified option as the default value on Win XP is "C:\Documents and Settings\<your login name>\Application Data\Dassault Systems\CATEnv" for [-a user] option and "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Dassault Systems\CATEnv" for [-a global] option.
3. Your question: How will CATIA V5 discover this file when it's invoked? Ans: Before running the setcatenv command one needs to run [set CATDefaultEnvironment=<your CATIA V5 Environment Name>] command to specify the name of the env-file. Then you need to run [setcatenv -e <your CATIA V5 Environment Name>] with the same env name. CATIA looks for the CATDefaultEnvironment name if present at the location specified by [-d <dir>] option.
4. Now if you want to add/change any of the paths in the env-file then it is recommended to use the chcatenv command as mentioned in http://doc.spatial.com/index.php/HowTo:Troubleshoot_my_CATIA_V5_translator%3F#Error_Messages programmatically instead of manually so as to ensure consistency during successive launches and usages.
5. Finally, as also mentioned at the above doc link it is recommended to change the CATUserSettingPath in the env-file if there is CATIA V5 as well as InterOp installed on the same machine.
I hope the explanation is upto your satisfaction.
Thanks,
With Best Regards,
DS-SPATIAL Client Care
