title: SSRS Color literal not working in variable expression
body: <p>I'm trying to create a custom template report so that reports inheriting from it will use corporate standards for color and font.  I want to create report variables for these, so that the same color can be employed in different parts of the report.</p>
  
  <p>For instance, in the report header properties, I set the RGB values for the BackgroundColor property and, when I save my changes, I see a literal value in the property text box.  If I then open the dropdown for the property again, and click the "Expression..." link, I see a numeric literal - in this case, <strong>#006a4d</strong>, which is a dark green.  (I'm somewhat new to SSRS expressions, but apparently expressions that represent numeric constants don't require the "=" sign at the beginning.)</p>
  
  <p>This tells me the constant representing the RGB combination that I want.  Now, I go into the Variables tab of the Report Properties dialog and create a variable called "BckndClr" with the same hex constant as its value.</p>
  
  <p>If I then go back to the BackgroundColor property and set it to the expression:</p>
  
  <pre><code>=Variables!BckndClr.Value
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>and save it, I find that, instead of continuing to to be dark green, the report header's background color in the Design tab has changed to the Auto default (white) color.</p>
  
  <p>If The Visual Studio properties dialog displays a value for a literal color expression, why can't I use that same value in a user-defined variable and set the property expression  to that variable?</p>