PocketMatrix

i'm working on a .netcf app in dev studio 2003 and i need a decent amount of database retrieval. not very frequent as i'll store the small data in memory and then save it every so often but haven't looked at anything database related for pocketpcs. does anyone have any good starting points. do most people just manipulate filse instead of using a database?

It depends what you want to do with it afterwards and what the content is. If you just want to store data and you don't care about the niceties of a database, then just look at serialisation. If you need the relational access or integrity (primary keys, etc) or open access for other applications, then look at something like Sybase's UltraLite database to run on the PocketPC (pretty sure that has a .NET i/face).

Manipulating files is ghastly and I'd advise strongly against doing it.