Displaying a message box from the Windows command line
With no special software or compiling; just a little scripting.
When I run a time-consuming batch file that executes perl scripts or XSLT stylesheets on hundreds of files, I usually end the batch file with an echo command with only a Control-G as its output, so that a beep lets me know that the job is done. Processing some client files while watching Mark Birbeck speak at XML 2008, I knew it would be rude to have my computer emit such an obnoxious beep, so I found a nice alternative: a command line way to display a message box about my task being finished…
