List created on solution activated

Question

I have developed a web part which relies on a list to work so I've created a feature which creates the list with all the necessary columns etc.

When i delpoy to local everything works as it should, list is created etc etc. When I then upload that feature to SP2010 online the lists are not created. Do i need to use different code when a webpart is NOT being deployed but installed? Little confused.

Public Overrides Sub FeatureActivated(ByVal properties As SPFeatureReceiverProperties)
    Try
        'get the current web object.  


        ' choose your site

        'Dim currentSite As SPWeb = SPContext.Current.Web
        'local site
        'Dim site As SPSite = New SPSite("http:xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx")
        'live se
        Dim site As SPSite = New SPSite(" https:xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx")
        Dim web As SPWeb = site.OpenWeb()

        Dim lists As SPListCollection = Web.Lists
        ' create new Generic list called "My List"
        ' first lets check if it exisits.
        Dim ProjectList As SPList = web.Lists.TryGetList("ProfilesTest")
        If ProjectList Is Nothing Then
            lists.Add("Profiles", "List to populate the Profiles Web part", SPListTemplateType.GenericList)
        End If


        Dim newList As SPList = web.Lists("Profiles")
        ' create Text type new column called "My Column"
        newList.Fields.Add("Name", SPFieldType.Text, True)
        newList.Fields.Add("Company", SPFieldType.Text, True)
        newList.Fields.Add("Postion", SPFieldType.Text, True)
        newList.Fields.Add("Home", SPFieldType.Text, True)
        newList.Fields.Add("Profile", SPFieldType.Note, True)
        newList.Fields.Add("Personal", SPFieldType.Note, False)
        newList.Fields.Add("Twitter", SPFieldType.Text, False)
        newList.Fields.Add("Email", SPFieldType.Text, False)
        newList.Fields.Add("Linkedin", SPFieldType.Text, False)
        newList.Fields.Add("Order", SPFieldType.Number, False)
        newList.Fields.Add("ProfileImage", SPFieldType.URL, False)

        newList.Update()

        'we can add content in here if we want
        Dim currentList As SPList = web.Lists("Profiles")
        Dim newlistItem As SPListItem = currentList.Items.Add
        newlistItem("Name") = "xxx xxx"
        newlistItem("Position") = "xxx xxx"

        newlistItem.Update()


        ' make new column visible in default view
        Dim view As SPView = newList.DefaultView
        view.ViewFields.Add("Name")
        view.ViewFields.Add("Company")
        view.Update()


    Catch

    End Try
End Sub

Answer 1

Instead of using

Dim site As SPSite = New SPSite(" https:xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx") 
Dim web As SPWeb = site.OpenWeb() 

Try using (if scope of feature is Web (Site))

Dim web As SPWeb = TryCast(properties.Feature.Parent, SPWeb)

or (if scope of feature is Site (Site collection))

Dim site As SPSite = TryCast(properties.Feature.Parent, SPSite) 
Dim web As SPWeb = site.RootWeb

Answer 2

If I'm not wrong SharePoint online uses sandbox solutions. These solution has limitations. I think you cannot create list through code, but you can use CAML. See this post.