docs: add narrative docs for BoundObject (#4703)

* docs: add narrative docs for BoundObject

* grammar fixes

* use where to break up signature

* fix incorrect last sentence

* Update guide/src/types.md

Co-authored-by: Icxolu <[email protected]>

* move example to traits.md and rework with a stronger motivation

* fix cross-reference target

* fix type

* build result vec without copying

* simplify example a little

* update explanation sentence

* fix API docs link

---------

Co-authored-by: Icxolu <[email protected]>

Author: ngoldbaum

guide/src/conversions/traits.md

@@ -626,6 +626,73 @@ impl IntoPy<PyObject> for MyPyObjectWrapper {
 }
 ```
 
+#### `BoundObject` for conversions that may be `Bound` or `Borrowed`
+
+`IntoPyObject::into_py_object` returns either `Bound` or `Borrowed` depending on the implementation for a concrete type. For example, the `IntoPyObject` implementation for `u32` produces a `Bound<'py, PyInt>` and the `bool` implementation produces a `Borrowed<'py, 'py, PyBool>`:
+
+```rust
+use pyo3::prelude::*;
+use pyo3::IntoPyObject;
+use pyo3::types::{PyBool, PyInt};
+
+let ints: Vec<u32> = vec![1, 2, 3, 4];
+let bools = vec![true, false, false, true];
+
+Python::with_gil(|py| {
+    let ints_as_pyint: Vec<Bound<'_, PyInt>> = ints
+        .iter()
+        .map(|x| Ok(x.into_pyobject(py)?))
+        .collect::<PyResult<_>>()
+        .unwrap();
+
+    let bools_as_pybool: Vec<Borrowed<'_, '_, PyBool>> = bools
+        .iter()
+        .map(|x| Ok(x.into_pyobject(py)?))
+        .collect::<PyResult<_>>()
+        .unwrap();
+});
+```
+
+In this example if we wanted to combine `ints_as_pyints` and `bools_as_pybool` into a single `Vec<Py<PyAny>>` to return from the `with_gil` closure, we would have to manually convert the concrete types for the smart pointers and the python types.
+
+Instead, we can write a function that generically converts vectors of either integers or bools into a vector of `Py<PyAny>` using the [`BoundObject`] trait:
+
+```rust
+# use pyo3::prelude::*;
+# use pyo3::BoundObject;
+# use pyo3::IntoPyObject;
+
+# let bools = vec![true, false, false, true];
+# let ints = vec![1, 2, 3, 4];
+
+fn convert_to_vec_of_pyobj<'py, T>(py: Python<'py>, the_vec: Vec<T>) -> PyResult<Vec<Py<PyAny>>>
+where
+   T: IntoPyObject<'py> + Copy
+{
+    the_vec.iter()
+        .map(|x| {
+            Ok(
+                x.into_pyobject(py)
+                .map_err(Into::into)?
+                .into_any()
+                .unbind()
+            )
+        })
+        .collect()
+}
+
+let vec_of_pyobjs: Vec<Py<PyAny>> = Python::with_gil(|py| {
+    let mut bools_as_pyany = convert_to_vec_of_pyobj(py, bools).unwrap();
+    let mut ints_as_pyany = convert_to_vec_of_pyobj(py, ints).unwrap();
+    let mut result: Vec<Py<PyAny>> = vec![];
+    result.append(&mut bools_as_pyany);
+    result.append(&mut ints_as_pyany);
+    result
+});
+```
+
+In the example above we used `BoundObject::into_any` and `BoundObject::unbind` to manipulate the python types and smart pointers into the result type we wanted to produce from the function.
+
 ### The `ToPyObject` trait
 
 <div class="warning">
@@ -647,3 +714,4 @@ same purpose, except that it consumes `self`.
 
 [`PyRef`]: {{#PYO3_DOCS_URL}}/pyo3/pycell/struct.PyRef.html
 [`PyRefMut`]: {{#PYO3_DOCS_URL}}/pyo3/pycell/struct.PyRefMut.html
+[`BoundObject`]: {{#PYO3_DOCS_URL}}/pyo3/instance/trait.BoundObject.html

guide/src/migration.md

@@ -157,6 +157,8 @@ need to adapt an implementation of `IntoPyObject` to stay compatible with the Py
 the new [`#[derive(IntoPyObject)]`](#intopyobject-derive-macro) macro can be used instead of
 [manual implementations](#intopyobject-manual-implementation).
 
+Since `IntoPyObject::into_pyobject` may return either a `Bound` or `Borrowed`, you may find the [`BoundObject`](conversions/traits.md#boundobject-for-conversions-that-may-be-bound-or-borrowed) trait to be useful to write code that generically handles either type of smart pointer.
+
 Together with the introduction of `IntoPyObject` the old conversion traits `ToPyObject` and `IntoPy`
 are deprecated and will be removed in a future PyO3 version.