Basically, I want to convert hex values in the range
"00000000" to "FFFFFFFF" to a signed, 32-bit Integer
value.

In VB6, I could just write lngValue = Val(hexstring$).

In VB.Net, I seem to be forced to do something like

---snip---
   Private Function HexToInteger(ByVal hexValue As String) As Integer
       If hexValue.ToLower.StartsWith("&h") Then
           hexValue = hexValue.Substring(2)
       End If
       Dim value As Long = Long.Parse(hexValue,
Globalization.NumberStyles.HexNumber)
       If value > Integer.MaxValue Then
           value = value - 4294967296&
       End If
       Return CType(value, Integer)
   End Function
---snip---

Have I overlooked a function in the framework?

Surely there is a faster/shorter/better way?

TIA,

Joergen Bech