diff --git a/tmf/org.eclipse.tracecompass.tmf.core/src/org/eclipse/tracecompass/tmf/core/parsers/custom/CustomEvent.java b/tmf/org.eclipse.tracecompass.tmf.core/src/org/eclipse/tracecompass/tmf/core/parsers/custom/CustomEvent.java
index e06481f..ae36c6a 100644
--- a/tmf/org.eclipse.tracecompass.tmf.core/src/org/eclipse/tracecompass/tmf/core/parsers/custom/CustomEvent.java
+++ b/tmf/org.eclipse.tracecompass.tmf.core/src/org/eclipse/tracecompass/tmf/core/parsers/custom/CustomEvent.java
@@ -187,6 +187,18 @@
     // ------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
     /**
+     * Get this event's content value.
+     * <p>
+     * This does not process the payload data and is therefore safe to call in
+     * the middle of parsing an event.
+     *
+     * @return the event's content value.
+     */
+    Object getContentValue() {
+        return customEventContent.getValue();
+    }
+
+    /**
      * Get the contents of an event table cell for this event's row.
      *
      * @param index
diff --git a/tmf/org.eclipse.tracecompass.tmf.core/src/org/eclipse/tracecompass/tmf/core/parsers/custom/CustomTxtTrace.java b/tmf/org.eclipse.tracecompass.tmf.core/src/org/eclipse/tracecompass/tmf/core/parsers/custom/CustomTxtTrace.java
index b8f4605..545c264 100644
--- a/tmf/org.eclipse.tracecompass.tmf.core/src/org/eclipse/tracecompass/tmf/core/parsers/custom/CustomTxtTrace.java
+++ b/tmf/org.eclipse.tracecompass.tmf.core/src/org/eclipse/tracecompass/tmf/core/parsers/custom/CustomTxtTrace.java
@@ -378,7 +378,7 @@
                                 }
                             }
                         }
-                        ((StringBuffer) event.getContent().getValue()).append("\n").append(line); //$NON-NLS-1$
+                        ((StringBuffer) event.getContentValue()).append("\n").append(line); //$NON-NLS-1$
                     }
                 }
                 rawPos = fFile.getFilePointer();
diff --git a/tmf/org.eclipse.tracecompass.tmf.core/src/org/eclipse/tracecompass/tmf/core/parsers/custom/CustomXmlTrace.java b/tmf/org.eclipse.tracecompass.tmf.core/src/org/eclipse/tracecompass/tmf/core/parsers/custom/CustomXmlTrace.java
index 8df4b1b..21bb0e8 100644
--- a/tmf/org.eclipse.tracecompass.tmf.core/src/org/eclipse/tracecompass/tmf/core/parsers/custom/CustomXmlTrace.java
+++ b/tmf/org.eclipse.tracecompass.tmf.core/src/org/eclipse/tracecompass/tmf/core/parsers/custom/CustomXmlTrace.java
@@ -277,7 +277,7 @@
             final Element element = parseElementBuffer(elementBuffer);
 
             event = extractEvent(element, fRecordInputElement);
-            ((StringBuffer) event.getContent().getValue()).append(elementBuffer);
+            ((StringBuffer) event.getContentValue()).append(elementBuffer);
 
             long rawPos = fFile.getFilePointer();
             String line = fFile.getNextLine();
diff --git a/tmf/org.eclipse.tracecompass.tmf.ui.tests/src/org/eclipse/tracecompass/tmf/ui/tests/trace/CustomTxtIndexTest.java b/tmf/org.eclipse.tracecompass.tmf.ui.tests/src/org/eclipse/tracecompass/tmf/ui/tests/trace/CustomTxtIndexTest.java
index 82a5419..fcd1cd4 100644
--- a/tmf/org.eclipse.tracecompass.tmf.ui.tests/src/org/eclipse/tracecompass/tmf/ui/tests/trace/CustomTxtIndexTest.java
+++ b/tmf/org.eclipse.tracecompass.tmf.ui.tests/src/org/eclipse/tracecompass/tmf/ui/tests/trace/CustomTxtIndexTest.java
@@ -57,6 +57,10 @@
                 SimpleDateFormat f = new SimpleDateFormat(TIMESTAMP_FORMAT);
                 String eventStr = f.format(new Date(i)) + " hello world\n";
                 writer.write(eventStr);
+                int extra = i % 3;
+                for (int j = 0; j < extra; j++) {
+                    writer.write("extra line\n");
+                }
             }
         }
 
diff --git a/tmf/org.eclipse.tracecompass.tmf.ui.tests/tracesets/txt/testTxtDefinition.xml b/tmf/org.eclipse.tracecompass.tmf.ui.tests/tracesets/txt/testTxtDefinition.xml
index ee2f9cb..b2af6b4 100644
--- a/tmf/org.eclipse.tracecompass.tmf.ui.tests/tracesets/txt/testTxtDefinition.xml
+++ b/tmf/org.eclipse.tracecompass.tmf.ui.tests/tracesets/txt/testTxtDefinition.xml
@@ -7,6 +7,11 @@
 <RegEx>(\S*\s\S*) (.*\S)</RegEx>
 <InputData action="0" format="dd/MM/yyyy HH:mm:ss:SSS" name="Time Stamp"/>
 <InputData action="0" format="" name="Message"/>
+<InputLine>
+<Cardinality max="2147483647" min="0"/>
+<RegEx>(.*\S)</RegEx>
+<InputData action="2" name="Message"/>
+</InputLine>
 </InputLine>
 <OutputColumn name="Time Stamp"/>
 <OutputColumn name="Message"/>