Rally - Users: What is the ProfileImage endpoint, why is it separate of the User endpoint?

Products

• CA Agile Central On Premise (Rally)
• CA Agile Central SaaS (Rally)

Issue/Introduction

What is the ProfileImage Rally WSAPI endpoint?   
It seems like it stores the user's own profile image. It also is used only by the User endpoint. Why then is it not part of the User endpoint?

Here is the endpoint definition:

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Here is the field's definition in the User endpointL

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Environment

Release:
Component: ACSAAS

Resolution

Indeed the ProfileImage is the endpoint that stores the binary content of the user's profile image file. It is stored as a base64Binary format. 

This endpoint is indeed used only by the User endpoint and could have been included with it. The reason it is not part of the User endpoint is performance. The ProfileImage may be a large file and if part of the User endpoint then it will be retrieved with every or most of the calls to the user object.

The main need for the ProfileImage is to upload the user's image once, establish his image and display on screen throughout his Rally session. By keeping this endpoint separate of the User endpoint we can handle user requests much faster, independently of the size of their image file.

Additional Information

See more on how to use WSAPI to create a user's profile image.