Dump MSBuild Items

DumpItems.targets

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project ToolsVersion="4.0" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
	<UsingTask TaskName="DumpItems"
			   TaskFactory="CodeTaskFactory"
			   AssemblyFile="$(MSBuildToolsPath)\Microsoft.Build.Tasks.v$(MSBuildToolsVersion).dll">
		<ParameterGroup>
			<Items ParameterType="Microsoft.Build.Framework.ITaskItem[]" Required="true" />
		</ParameterGroup>
		<Task>
			<Code Type="Fragment" Language="cs">
				<![CDATA[
			foreach (var item in Items)
			{
				Log.LogMessage("Item: {0}", item.ItemSpec);
				foreach (var name in item.MetadataNames.OfType<string>())
				{
					try
					{
						Log.LogMessage("\t{0}={1}", name, item.GetMetadata(name));
					}
					catch { }
				}
			}
]]>
			</Code>
		</Task>
	</UsingTask>
</Project>

Easily dump items and their metadata properties using:

<DumpItems Items="@(ReferenceDependencyPaths)" />