Is a database or a file more suitable to store varying input

Question

Hello,

 

I have created Windows form application, in which the user inputs data into a form, however the amount of forms each user will have will be different.

 

My initial solution was to have my forms on tabs, and the user can add as many tabs as they want, and a new form gets renderred on each new tab. However I then need to sum and average some of the values from each form, which I struggled to do.

 

It was suggested to me that it would be a better idea to have a single form, and a button which once clicked stores the input data, and refreshes the form, when the user proceeds to the next stage, I would then need to retrieve those values and average or sum them.

 

The stored user input will need to be organised and I will need to recall the values later on.

 

Would it be better to store the user input in a file or to create a database for this sort of thing?

 

I've never done either, so I'm not sure which applies better to the situation.

 

Appreciate any help, thank you.