Improve error message for DataFrame.from_dict when wrong orient is provided

doc/source/whatsnew/v1.4.3.rst

@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ Bug fixes
 ~~~~~~~~~
 - Bug in :meth:`pd.eval`, :meth:`DataFrame.eval` and :meth:`DataFrame.query` where passing empty ``local_dict`` or ``global_dict`` was treated as passing ``None`` (:issue:`47084`)
 - Most I/O methods do no longer suppress ``OSError`` and ``ValueError`` when closing file handles (:issue:`47136`)
--
+- Added parameter `tight` in :meth:`DataFrame.from_dict` error message
 
 .. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 

pandas/core/frame.py

@@ -1720,7 +1720,7 @@ def from_dict(
             if columns is not None:
                 raise ValueError(f"cannot use columns parameter with orient='{orient}'")
         else:  # pragma: no cover
-            raise ValueError("only recognize index or columns for orient")
+            raise ValueError("only recognize 'index', 'columns', or 'tight' for orient")
 
         if orient != "tight":
             return cls(data, index=index, columns=columns, dtype=dtype)

pandas/tests/frame/constructors/test_from_dict.py

@@ -17,11 +17,6 @@ class TestFromDict:
     # Note: these tests are specific to the from_dict method, not for
     #  passing dictionaries to DataFrame.__init__
 
-    def test_from_dict_scalars_requires_index(self):
-        msg = "If using all scalar values, you must pass an index"
-        with pytest.raises(ValueError, match=msg):
-            DataFrame.from_dict(OrderedDict([("b", 8), ("a", 5), ("a", 6)]))
-
     def test_constructor_list_of_odicts(self):
         data = [
             OrderedDict([["a", 1.5], ["b", 3], ["c", 4], ["d", 6]]),
@@ -189,3 +184,13 @@ def test_frame_dict_constructor_empty_series(self):
         # it works!
         DataFrame({"foo": s1, "bar": s2, "baz": s3})
         DataFrame.from_dict({"foo": s1, "baz": s3, "bar": s2})
+
+    def test_from_dict_scalars_requires_index(self):
+        msg = "If using all scalar values, you must pass an index"
+        with pytest.raises(ValueError, match=msg):
+            DataFrame.from_dict(OrderedDict([("b", 8), ("a", 5), ("a", 6)]))
+
+    def test_from_dict_orient_invalid(self):
+        msg = "only recognize 'index', 'columns', or 'tight' for orient"
+        with pytest.raises(ValueError, match=msg):
+            DataFrame.from_dict({"foo": 1, "baz": 3, "bar": 2}, orient='abc')