>Is there a way for the standard "=messagebox('Please wait')" to display before a loop then disappear afterward w/out user input?

AFAIK the messagebox function will not allow other code to process until it goes away. You could try "wait window 'Please wait' nowait" and at the end of the loop put "wait clear". I don't really like wait windows and usally update the status bar at the bottom of the screen.