Using a method from one class into a set

Question

I'm having problems getting a method from one class to work if I put the objects into a set.

So I have

public class Employee {
    /* instance variables */
    private String firstName;
    private String employeeNumber;


    public Employee(String employNum) {
        super();
        this.employeeNumber = employNum;             
    }

...

public String getFirstName() {
   return this.firstName;
}

There is lots of other code which I can post if needed but I'm not allowed to change the Employee class.

So for my code I have to create a class for a Set of Employees which I've done with

public class Records {
    public Set<Employee> employeeSet = new HashSet<Employee>();

    public Records() {
    }
}

Now I need a method that will print the details of all employees in the set. Here is my attempt so far

public void printEmployeeNames() {
    for (String employee : employeeSet) {
        System.out.println(this.employeeSet.getFirstName());
    }
}

The problem I'm having is that it won't compile as it says

"incompatible types"

and highlights employeeSet in

for (String employee : employeeSet) 

My other problem is that it can't access the method for getFirstName(). I've tried to isolate the method using

public void printEmployeeNames() {
    System.out.println(this.employeeSet.getFirstName());
}

This also won't compile as it states

"cannot find symbol - method getFirstName()".

Edit. Thanks for the help with this problem, I changed it to this and it worked.

public void printEmployees()
   {
     for (Employee employee: employeeSet)
     {
        System.out.println(employee.getFirstName());
     }
  }

Answer 1

this here makes no sense:

for (String employee: employeeSet)
 {
    System.out.println(this.employeeSet.getFirstName());
 }

since the employeeSet is a Set and sets dont have a method called getFirstName

you have to do:

for (Employee employee: employeeSet) //for every EMPLOYEE in the employeeSet
 {
    System.out.println(employee.getFirstName()); //from that employ get the name
 }

AND create in the Employee class the respective Setter and getters

in this case:

private String firstName;
    
    /**
     * @return the employeeNumber
     */
    public final String getEmployeeNumber() {
        return firstName;
    }

Answer 2

That should be

for (Employee employee: employeeSet)
 {
    System.out.println(employee.getFirstName());
 }

Set doesn't have a firstname method. Your employee object have have.