diff -r 1612dbcec451 -r 639991d0808a java/cewolf-1.0/src/main/java/de/laures/cewolf/taglib/util/ColorHelper.java
--- /dev/null	Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 1970 +0000
+++ b/java/cewolf-1.0/src/main/java/de/laures/cewolf/taglib/util/ColorHelper.java	Sat Feb 28 21:31:02 2009 +0100
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+/* ================================================================
+ * Cewolf : Chart enabling Web Objects Framework
+ * ================================================================
+ *
+ * Project Info:  http://cewolf.sourceforge.net
+ * Project Lead:  Guido Laures (guido@laures.de);
+ *
+ * (C) Copyright 2002, by Guido Laures
+ *
+ * This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms
+ * of the GNU Lesser General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation;
+ * either version 2.1 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
+ *
+ * This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY;
+ * without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
+ * See the GNU Lesser General Public License for more details.
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public License along with this
+ * library; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330,
+ * Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.
+ */
+
+package de.laures.cewolf.taglib.util;
+
+import java.awt.Color;
+
+
+/** @author  Guido Laures */
+public class ColorHelper {
+
+    private ColorHelper() {
+    }
+
+    public static final Color getColor(String hexString) {
+        try {
+             if (hexString == null || hexString.length() < 7) {
+                return Color.black;
+            }
+            final int red = Integer.parseInt(hexString.substring(1, 3), 16);
+            final int green = Integer.parseInt(hexString.substring(3, 5), 16);
+            final int blue = Integer.parseInt(hexString.substring(5, 7), 16);
+            int alpha = 0;
+            if (hexString.length() > 8) {
+                alpha = Integer.parseInt(hexString.substring(7, 9), 16);
+            }
+            if (alpha > 0) {
+                return new Color(red, green, blue, alpha);
+            } else {
+                return new Color(red, green, blue);
+            }
+        } catch (NumberFormatException nfe) {
+            return Color.black;
+        }
+    }
+
+}