Userdefined Commands in CATIA V5

With “startCommand” one can start userdefined commands in the same
way as you type the command in the command prompt in CATIA V5.

try:
    import win32com.client 
except:
    print "Oops PYwin32 from Marc Hammond needed" 
catapp = win32com.client.Dispatch("CATIA.application") 
#Attention: runs only if you have set TOOLS/CUSTOMIZE/OPTIONS to Englisch. 
catapp.StartCommand("Open") 
#Starts the "File open"-Menu 
#other examples: 
#catapp.StartCommand("What's This?") 
# Runs the Online-Help (Strg+F1)
#catapp.StartCommand("CompassDisplayOff") 
# Compass visible 
#catapp.StartCommand("CompassDisplayOn") 
# Compass invisible