A bit about colors

I came up with this little piece of code for an app. that I'm currently writing. The requirement was that a user can specify colors in an app. configuration file in either named or Hex format. I also used this a *lot* while building the app.

darkColorName = CStr(doc.SelectSingleNode("/Units/ColorSchema").Attributes("darkBgColor").Value)
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Try
    If Microsoft.VisualBasic.Left(darkColorName, 1) = "#" Then
        darkColorName = ColorStringFromHexString(darkColorName)
        Me.DarkColor = Drawing.Color.FromArgb( _
                CType(Mid(darkColorName, 1, 2), Byte), _
                CType(Mid(darkColorName, 3, 2), Byte), _
                CType(Mid(darkColorName, 5, 2), Byte)
        )
    Else
        Me.DarkColor = Drawing.Color.FromName(darkColorName)
    End If
Catch ex As System.ArgumentException
    ' named colors not provided or inaccurate
    Me.DarkColor = Drawing.Color.FromName("Desktop")
End Try

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Private Function ColorStringFromHexString(ByVal hexStrng As String) As String
    If Microsoft.VisualBasic.Left(hexStrng, 1) = "#" Then
        hexStrng = Mid(hexStrng, 2)
    End If
    Return "" & CLng("&H" & hexStrng)
End Function