T = table([1;2;3], {'a';'b';'c'}, 'VariableNames', {'col1', 'col2'});
T.Properties.VariableDescriptions = {'column #1', 'column #2'};

T = util.table2nwb(T);

dtr_col = types.hdmf_common.DynamicTableRegion( ...
    'description', 'references multiple rows of earlier table', ...
    'data', [0; 1; 1; 0], ...  # 0-indexed
    'table',types.untyped.ObjectView(T) ...  % object view of target table
);

data_col = types.hdmf_common.VectorData( ...
    'description', 'data column', ...
    'data', {'a'; 'b'; 'c'; 'd'} ...
);

dtr_table = types.hdmf_common.DynamicTable( ...
    'description', 'test table with DynamicTableRegion', ...
    'colnames', {'dtr_col', 'data_col'}, ...
    'dtr_col', dtr_col, ...
    'data_col',data_col, ...
    'id',types.hdmf_common.ElementIdentifiers('data', [0; 1; 2; 3]) ...
);

dtr_table.toTable() % Works

ans =

  4×3 table

    id    dtr_col    data_col
    __    _______    ________

    0        0        {'a'}  
    1        1        {'b'}  
    2        1        {'c'}  
    3        0        {'d'}  

dtr_table.toTable(false) % Works

ans =

  4×3 table

    id      dtr_col      data_col
    __    ___________    ________

    0     {1×2 table}     {'a'}  
    1     {1×2 table}     {'b'}  
    2     {1×2 table}     {'c'}  
    3     {1×2 table}     {'d'}  



% If instead the dtr_col is added as the last column of the table:
dtr_table = types.hdmf_common.DynamicTable( ...
    'description', 'test table with DynamicTableRegion', ...
    'colnames', {'data_col', 'dtr_col'}, ...        % Columns changed places
    'dtr_col', dtr_col, ...
    'data_col',data_col, ...
    'id',types.hdmf_common.ElementIdentifiers('data', [0; 1; 2; 3]) ...
);

dtr_table.toTable() % Works

ans =

  4×3 table

    id    data_col    dtr_col
    __    ________    _______

    0      {'a'}         0   
    1      {'b'}         1   
    2      {'c'}         1   
    3      {'d'}         0   

dtr_table.toTable(false) % Does not work

ans =

  4×3 table

    id    data_col    dtr_col
    __    ________    _______

    0      {'a'}         0   
    1      {'b'}         1   
    2      {'c'}         1   
    3      {'d'}         0