A DESCRIPTION OF THE REQUEST :
The JavaDoc for java.awt.Color.toString() states that the output is only for debugging purposes. However, in scenarios where you save Color values to disk it is beneficial if the API guarantees that output from java.awt.Color.toString() is parsable by java.awt.Color.decode(). As it is now, it is not since the toString() method uses the standard AWT toString() format.

If there is some kind of contract for AWT classes to behave that way, a compromise could be to implement an encode() method that is capable of encoding a Color into String that is parsable by encode()

JUSTIFICATION :
Most common scenario is probably when users want to save Color's to disk or display their value in a text field in a GUI. Webdevelopers may like if the output is in the standard hexadecimal format (for web page rendering).

EXPECTED VERSUS ACTUAL BEHAVIOR :
EXPECTED -
Output of toString() (or an added encode()) method describes the Color in such a way that the output String is parsable by encode() to the idential Color.
ACTUAL -
Output from toString() is an invalid format for encode() and will cause a NumberFormatException to be thrown

---------- BEGIN SOURCE ----------

import java.awt.Color;

public static void main(String[] argv) {
    Color testColor = Color.decode("#ff00aa");
    String testStr = testColor.toString();
    // Line below will throw NumberFormatException
    Color copyColor = Color.decode(testStr);
    System.out.println(copyColor);
}

---------- END SOURCE ----------

CUSTOMER SUBMITTED WORKAROUND :
Implement a custom colorToString() routine:

private static String colorToString(Color c) {
char[] buf = new char[7];
buf[0] = '#';
String s = Integer.toHexString(c.getRed());
if (s.length() == 1) {
buf[1] = '0';
buf[2] = s.charAt(0);
}
else {
buf[1] = s.charAt(0);
buf[2] = s.charAt(1);
}
s = Integer.toHexString(c.getGreen());
if (s.length() == 1) {
buf[3] = '0';
buf[4] = s.charAt(0);
}
else {
buf[3] = s.charAt(0);
buf[4] = s.charAt(1);
}
s = Integer.toHexString(c.getBlue());
if (s.length() == 1) {
buf[5] = '0';
buf[6] = s.charAt(0);
}
else {
buf[5] = s.charAt(0);
buf[6] = s.charAt(1);
}
return String.valueOf(buf);
}