UIColor Hex Value Extensions

UIColor+Extensions.swift

import UIKit

extension UIColor {
    static func colorWithHexValue(hexValue: UInt32, alpha: CGFloat) -> UIColor {
        let red   = CGFloat((hexValue & 0xFF0000) >> 16)
        let green = CGFloat((hexValue & 0x00FF00) >> 8)
        let blue  = CGFloat((hexValue & 0x0000FF))
        
        return UIColor(red: red/255.0, green: green/255.0, blue: blue/255.0, alpha: alpha)
    }
    
    static func colorWithHexString(hexString: String, alpha: CGFloat) -> UIColor {
        return colorWithHexValue(intFromHexString(hexString), alpha: alpha)
    }
    
    static func intFromHexString(hexString: String) -> UInt32 {
        var hexInt: UInt32 = 0
        
        let scanner = NSScanner(string: hexString)
        scanner.charactersToBeSkipped = NSCharacterSet(charactersInString: "#")
        scanner.scanHexInt(&hexInt)
        
        return hexInt
    }
}

Use it like this:

UIColor.colorWithHexValue(0x78B5CA, alpha: 1.0)

UIColor.colorWithHexString("#78B5CA", alpha: 1.0)