one of the many questions is how long is the calculation? if it is quick enough (i don't know how quick is quick) matlab maynot update the GUI until after the function ends.
for instance i don't have the same issue and i push my pause() statement in my dummy pushbutton1 callback pretty quick
message = cell(2,1);
message{1}='Please wait...';
message{2}='Getting times ';
set(handles.status, 'String', message);
set(handles.status, 'BackgroundColor', [1 1 0]);
for ind = 1:10
set(handles.pushbutton1,'string',num2str(ind));
pause(0.1)
end
message = cell(2,1);
message{1}='READY';
message{2}='Times acquired';
set(handles.status, 'String', message);
set(handles.status, 'BackgroundColor', [0 1 0])
my advice is put a breakpoint using the debugger and step through your code. watching the GUI see that as you step through to the point the text should change. if it does change then its probably something graphical. I don't know an equivalent command like drawnow for handle structures.
