Are there any examples of something similar that has the ability to seamlessly interact with tables as well?
Notion seems to be the only player in the space that effectively uses its tables as linkable databases, most similar products seem to either lack table functionality or they're just simple formatted text.
So much of my daily work revolves around databases and Excel, I would love the ability to have multiple views of database tables embedded in a text editor, varied by context, with full backend control over the database itself. Bonus points if I could easily have scripts run on them in the background, almost like a programmatic kind of Excel.
Have you heard of Obsidian? It's a note-taking app build on locally stored markdown files with bidirectional linking and a great ecosystem of third party plugins. One of the most popular plugins is https://github.com/blacksmithgu/obsidian-dataview which lets you treat your notes as databases and query them to form tables. The creator has been working on its successor, Datacore https://github.com/blacksmithgu/datacore for a while - Datacore might come close to what you're looking for, its goals include WYSIWYG views and live editing inside tables.
I have used Obsidian before, and the lack of any excel-like functionality (Dataview just wasn't enough) was what drove me to Notion. I'll keep an eye on Datacore though, it does seem like it might be able to achieve enough of what I'm looking to do.
Logseq mostly does this, I think. Rather than starting with a table and adding objects to it, you start with the objects in your database — pages and blocks — and then form tables by querying your database for those objects based on their attributes (tags, contents, etc).
> What I miss (but not enough to change) is the ability to have a plain Markdown page, and not only rely on bullets.
This. So much this. I prefer Logseq's UI over Obsidian's but the lack of support for plain (non-outline) text files made me switch to Obsidian in the end.
Not the answer anyone was expecting, but SharePoint Online. Wiki pages, every list you create is a SQL table with a robust API, and the power platform is one of the best no/low code solutions available. I create full react applications around this and host the SPA in a SharePoint document library.
... I'm not sure if this is the greatest idea I've ever heard, or if I want to immediately run away screaming.
I've always thought SharePoint was terribly slow, but that was just from experience interacting with the web interface itself. Does the API perform well? Or is there that same inherent latency to put up with?
And do you have any general tips/ideas/learnings to share about using SharePoint in this way? I definitely want to give this a try.
The first step might actually be a non-starter for most people. Notion is free, SharePoint is usually offered as a capability within a business or school's Office 365 subscription. I believe you can either subscribe yourself for $5.00 / month using this link: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/sharepoint/com..., or maybe you're lucky and already have an account with your school / work. If neither of these work for you, you can also sign up for the Microsoft Developer Program, which is actually pretty cool; here is a guide for setting up a SharePoint site through the developer program: https://www.sharepointdiary.com/2021/05/how-to-create-sharep...
I should take a moment to clarify that I'm not affiliated with Microsoft or any of the links I'm posting here in any way. I make a living building web sites and as mentioned above, many of them leverage SharePoint. I find it a pretty easy way to build intranet solutions for my customers.
Assuming you've got your SharePoint site created within SharePoint Online, creating a "List" is pretty simple. Here's an article from Microsoft explaining how to do so:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/create-a-list-0d3.... Think of a list as a database table. From there you can create various types of columns including "look-up" columns, which are basically joining to another table on the same site with a foreign key.
I think from there you could dive into the Power Platform, but there's so much out there, I think this would be a good start.
There is a project called “AnyType” that is real and i use it but it’s “open source promised soon”. The gist of it is a Person knowledge management system except the items are in a linked graph (and the relationships are typed).
It actually has an editor that looks eerily like the linked one so I wonder if they’re related. It lets you use slash-commands that’s much more expressive than everything except maybe notion. But again, it lets you operate against a database-like set of objects.
I don’t think you can point it at real databases though.
It has far more data power than Coda, with tables that can be used as databases, a strong formula language, and loads of other nifty features. Like Notion, it's a closed-source SaaS.
Notion seems to be the only player in the space that effectively uses its tables as linkable databases, most similar products seem to either lack table functionality or they're just simple formatted text.
So much of my daily work revolves around databases and Excel, I would love the ability to have multiple views of database tables embedded in a text editor, varied by context, with full backend control over the database itself. Bonus points if I could easily have scripts run on them in the background, almost like a programmatic kind of Excel.