Is there a way to simplify converting an Option into a Result without a macro?

The ok_or and ok_or_else methods convert Options to Results, and the ? operator automates the boilerplate associated with early Err returns.

You could do something like:

fn new() -> Result<Boo, String> {
    let item1 = section.get("item1").ok_or("no item1")?;
    let item2 = section.get("item2").ok_or("no item2")?;
    // whatever processing...
    Ok(final_result)
}