HTTPS profile and profile background image URLs are being added to user objects

[Matt Harris]

Hey everyone,

Later this week we'll start to add two new fields to the user object responses from the Streaming and REST APIs (not Search). Due to caching, not all objects will have these fields immediately so you should check they are present in the response before using them.

The two additional fields are the SSL versions of the profile_image_url and the profile_background_image_url. They will be identified in the user object by the attributes:

    profile_image_https

    profile_background_image_url_https

For example, the @twitter user would look similar to this:

{

  "profile_background_tile": false,

  "name": "Twitter",

  "profile_sidebar_fill_color": "F6F6F6",

  "profile_sidebar_border_color": "EEEEEE",

  "location": "San Francisco, CA",

  "created_at": "Tue Feb 20 14:35:54 +0000 2007",

  "profile_image_url": "http://a0.twimg.com/profile_images/1124040897/at-twitter_normal.png",

  "id_str": "783214",

  "is_translator": false,

  "profile_link_color": "038543",

  "follow_request_sent": false,

  "default_profile": false,

  "contributors_enabled": true,

  "favourites_count": 10,

  "url": "http://twitter.com",

  "utc_offset": -28800,

  "id": 783214,

  "profile_image_url_https": "https://si2.twimg.com/profile_images/1124040897/at-twitter_normal.png",

  "listed_count": 58963,

  "profile_use_background_image": true,

  "lang": "en",

  "protected": false,

  "profile_text_color": "333333",

  "followers_count": 5063298,

  "notifications": false,

  "geo_enabled": true,

  "verified": true,

  "profile_background_color": "ACDED6",

  "profile_background_image_url_https": "https://si2.twimg.com/images/themes/theme18/bg.gif",

  "description": "Always wondering what's happening. ",

  "time_zone": "Pacific Time (US & Canada)",

  "statuses_count": 1111,

  "friends_count": 487,

  "default_profile_image": false,

  "profile_background_image_url": "http://a1.twimg.com/images/themes/theme18/bg.gif",

  "status": {

    "coordinates": null,

    "created_at": "Mon May 16 17:23:59 +0000 2011",

    "truncated": false,

    "favorited": false,

    "id_str": "70177690392592384",

    "in_reply_to_user_id_str": null,

    "text": "Remember in 2009 when @aplusk and @cnn were racing to be the 1st to reach a million followers? @ladygaga just reached 10 million. Wow!",

    "annotations": null,

    "contributors": [

      16739704

    ],

    "id": 70177690392592384,

    "retweet_count": "100+",

    "in_reply_to_status_id_str": null,

    "geo": null,

    "retweeted": false,

    "in_reply_to_user_id": null,

    "in_reply_to_screen_name": null,

    "source": "web",

    "place": null,

    "in_reply_to_status_id": null

  },

  "screen_name": "twitter",

  "show_all_inline_media": true,

  "following": true

}

Best,

@themattharris

Developer Advocate, Twitter
http://twitter.com/themattharris

[themattharris]

Just to follow up on this, the correct additional fields are:
profile_image_url_https
profile_background_image_url_https

The original email missed the _url in profile_image_url_https.

Best
@themattharris

[Shachar]

Hi Matt,

Thanks for the update.

Is there any plan to add these fields to the search API results?

-- Shachar

[Terence Eden]

Thank for implementing my suggestion ;-) (http://shkspr.mobi/blog/
index.php/2011/05/a-minor-twitter-privacy-bug/)
A quick question. Why add a new field? Why not use the existing one
IFF the request came over HTTPS?

[Taylor Singletary]

Developers may choose to use the API in SSL but serve their websites without encryption. Not all uses of the API are in a web context. This allows a developer to choose the image most appropriate for their end-user's scenario whether they are connected to the API using SSL or otherwise. Better to make its usage a deliberate decision on the developer's part.

@episod - Taylor Singletary

> Developer Advocate, Twitterhttp://twitter.com/themattharris

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