Here's a hyperbole-org integration that lets you use org-mode tables outside of org-mode files. Shift-middle-click a "recalc" button and it will recalculate the table right under it (this idea is from an old version of the Oberon environment I wrote in Java, by the way).

Here's the code:

(defun bill/calc (end)
(goto-char end)
(re-search-forward "\n")
(when (org-at-table-p)
(org-table-analyze)
(let* ((table-start (point))
(rows (1- (length org-table-dlines)))
(table-end (re-search-forward "\n" nil t rows))
(inside (<= table-start action-key-depress-prev-point table-end)))
(when inside
(goto-char action-key-depress-prev-point)
(org-table-maybe-eval-formula))
(goto-char table-start)
(call-interactively 'org-table-recalculate)
(org-table-align))))

(defib recalc ()
"recalculate a table"
(save-excursion
(let* ((pos (point))
(eol (progn (re-search-forward "\n") (point)))
(bol (progn (re-search-backward "\n" nil t 2) (1+ (point))))
(start (progn (goto-char pos) (re-search-backward "<" bol t)))
(end (progn (goto-char pos) (re-search-forward ">" eol t))))
;;(message "pos: %s, prev: %s" (point) action-key-depress-prev-point)
(and start end (string-match "<recalc[> ].*" (buffer-substring start end))
(hact 'bill/calc end)))))

Here's an example table you can put anywhere. Just shift-middle-click on it to recalculate the org-mode table. Also, if you type a formula (and keep the cursor on the same line) and then shift-click recalc, it'll handle the formula:

<recalc>
| a | 12 |
| a | 5 |
#+TBLFM: @1$2=3*4::@2$2=2+3

-- Bill

On Wed, Jun 22, 2022 at 1:38 PM Juan Manuel Macías <maciaschain@posteo.net> wrote:

Hi David,

David Masterson writes:

> I haven't touched Hyperbole in ...decades...? Even then, it was
> complicated and full-featured (but I still keep it in my .emacs file).
> My discussions with Bob Weiner were interesting at the time and I really
> wanted to make use of it.
>
> As you've discovered, it integrates a lot of what Org has in, perhaps, a
> tighter fashion (which makes it more complicated, but the pain might be
> useful). The Smart Keys and Buttons are very similar to Org. The
> outliner (KOutline) is more powerful than Org, but not integrated with
> export capabilities to other formats (I think there is a way of
> exporting an outline to Org). Something that Org does not have is
> browsing capabilities for Object Oriented languages. This is an add-on
> (for C++ ?) in Hyperbole (search for OO-Browser). Since I retired, I
> don't do much programming, so Org's project management has been more
> interesting to me.
>
> It's nice to see that it's actually still being developed by Bob.

Thanks for all the interesting facts about hyperbole. I hadn't looked at
the package source code info yet, and didn't know that this is all the
work of one person. I also thought hyperbole was more recent...

It certainly has some interesting stuff. In what way is KOutline more
powerful than Org? Do you think there is any useful feature of KOutline
that could be incorporated into Org?

So far I've been able to find a couple of practical uses for this
package in my workflow. The whole window control system is very
powerful, although it would have been better if it had been a single
separate package, IMHO.

Implicit links have a lot of potential. For example, I've managed to
define some buttons for LaTeX, which recognize LaTeX commands and
environments and lead to the local TeX live documentation or
tex.stackexchange.org. It's like giving a LaTeX document a sort of hover
help. This could also be done in Org, by defining some patterns as
implicit buttons to lead to Org info pages.

Best regards,

Juan Manuel