Alerting users with a pop-up window

Question

I'm relatively new at programming in general including Python. But I've tried to create a program in Python that alerts users through a pop up window to perform an action every 2 hours.

import time
import ctypes

count = 0

print "This break message was sent on "+time.ctime()
messageBox = ctypes.windll.user32.MessageBoxA
returnValue = messageBox(None, "TextAskingToDoSomething", "WindowTitle", 0x40 | 0x4)
if returnValue == 6:
    messageBox = ctypes.windll.user32.MessageBoxA
    returnValue = messageBox(None, "TextRespondingToAnswerYes", "SWindowTitle", 0x40 | 0x0)
elif returnValue == 7:
    messageBox = ctypes.windll.user32.MessageBoxA
    returnValue = messageBox(None, "TextRespondingToAnswerNo", "WindowTitle", 0x40 | 0x0)

while (count < 4):
    time.sleep(60*60*2)
    print "This break message was sent on"+time.ctime()
    messageBox = ctypes.windll.user32.MessageBoxA
    returnValue = messageBox(None, "TextAskingToDoSomething", "WindowTitle", 0x40 | 0x4)
    if returnValue == 6:
        messageBox = ctypes.windll.user32.MessageBoxA
        returnValue = messageBox(None, "TextRespondingToAnswerYes", "WindowTitle", 0x40 | 0x0)
    elif returnValue == 7:
        messageBox = ctypes.windll.user32.MessageBoxA
        returnValue = messageBox(None, "TextRespondingToAnswerNo", "WindowTitle", 0x40 | 0x0)
    count = count + 1

time.localtime()

It essentially calls a message box with a title and a text in it and if the user clicks one button then another one follow up message box appears. If the user clicks on the other button, then another follow up message appears. This process is repeated every 2 hours for 5 times.

How could I improve this code to be shortened? Could I use a function somehow? Or what would be a way to shorten it and avoid me repeating myself too much (if that is the case)?

Answer 1

You could change count = count + 1 to count += 1 besides that, do you need to repeat messageBox = ctypes.windll.user32.MessageBoxA so much? If it doesn't change, couldn't you just have it once? You could also add variables to shorten repeated lines like making a variable called resetMsgBox and have it be: resetMsgBox = ctypes.windll.user32.MessageBoxA so it's easier to read by having messageBox = resetMsgBox every line instead, I suppose.