Alarm Decoder keypad item, how to send command?

Recent install of openHab, upgrade to version 3.4.1. The Alarm Decoder binding sees the AD when the thing is added, and also sees the keypads where I manually create an alarm keypad thing. I add keypad itmes to the Model of my house as equipment, bind to the keypad thing, then create items from all the listed points, including the keypad command which is hidden in the unlinked tab even if I select add all points. I may have missed some details, however, in particular the keyboard message item seems to work correctly; what is displayed on the actual physical keypad is also displayed by the opehHab keypad message item.

Not so the keypad command. The only thing displayed by the keyboard command item is NULL.

Code from my thing file at /var/db/openhab/userdata/jsondb/org.openhab.core.thing.Thing.json

  "alarmdecoder:ipbridge:5dfe6e907c": {
    "class": "org.openhab.core.thing.internal.ThingStorageEntity",
    "value": {
      "isBridge": true,
      "channels": [],
      "label": "Alarm Decoder IP Bridge",
      "configuration": {
        "discovery": true,
        "hostname": "MYHOSTNAME",
        "reconnect": 2,
        "tcpPort": 10000,
        "timeout": 1
      },
      "properties": {
        "capabilities": "TX;RX;SM;VZ;RF;ZX;RE;AU;3X;CG;DD;MF;L2;KE;M2;CB;DS;ER;CR",
        "firmwareVersion": "V2.2a.8.9b-306",
        "serialNumber": "ffffffff",
        "vendor": "Nu Tech Software Solutions"
      },
      "UID": "alarmdecoder:ipbridge:5dfe6e907c",
      "thingTypeUID": "alarmdecoder:ipbridge",
      "location": "MYLOCATION"
    }
  },
  "alarmdecoder:keypad:5dfe6e907c:554b2e0cc8": {
    "class": "org.openhab.core.thing.internal.ThingStorageEntity",
    "value": {
      "isBridge": false,
      "channels": [
        {
          "uid": "alarmdecoder:keypad:5dfe6e907c:554b2e0cc8:zone",
          "id": "zone",
          "channelTypeUID": "alarmdecoder:number-channel",
          "itemType": "Number",
          "kind": "STATE",
          "label": "Zone",
          "defaultTags": [],
          "properties": {},
          "configuration": {},
          "autoUpdatePolicy": "DEFAULT"
        },
        {
          "uid": "alarmdecoder:keypad:5dfe6e907c:554b2e0cc8:text",
          "id": "text",
          "channelTypeUID": "alarmdecoder:text-channel",
          "itemType": "String",
          "kind": "STATE",
          "label": "Keypad Message",
          "defaultTags": [],
          "properties": {},
          "configuration": {},
          "autoUpdatePolicy": "DEFAULT"
        },
        {
          "uid": "alarmdecoder:keypad:5dfe6e907c:554b2e0cc8:command",
          "id": "command",
          "channelTypeUID": "alarmdecoder:command-channel",
          "itemType": "String",
          "kind": "STATE",
          "label": "Keypad Command",
          "defaultTags": [],
          "properties": {},
          "configuration": {},
          "autoUpdatePolicy": "DEFAULT"
        },
      "label": "Alarm Keypad MYLOCATION",
      "bridgeUID": "alarmdecoder:ipbridge:5dfe6e907c",
      "configuration": {
        "addressMask": "00000200",
        "commandMapping": "0\u003d0,1\u003d1,2\u003d2,3\u003d3,4\u003d4,5\u003d5,6\u003d6,7\u003d7,8\u003d8,9\u003d9,10\u003d*,1
1\u003d#",
        "sendCommands": true,
        "sendStar": true
      },
      "properties": {},
      "UID": "alarmdecoder:keypad:5dfe6e907c:554b2e0cc8",
      "thingTypeUID": "alarmdecoder:keypad",
      "location": "MYLOCATION"
    }
  },

and from the org.openhab.core.items.Item.json file

  "AlarmKeypadMYLOCATION_KeypadCommand": {
    "class": "org.openhab.core.items.ManagedItemProvider$PersistedItem",
    "value": {
      "groupNames": [
        "AlarmKeypadMYLOCATION"
      ],
      "itemType": "String",
      "tags": [
        "Point"
      ],
      "label": "Keypad Command",
      "category": ""
    }
  },
  "AlarmKeypadMYLOCATION_KeypadMessage": {
    "class": "org.openhab.core.items.ManagedItemProvider$PersistedItem",
    "value": {
      "groupNames": [
        "AlarmKeypadMYLOCATION"
      ],
      "itemType": "String",
      "tags": [
        "Point"
      ],
      "label": "Keypad Message",
      "category": ""
    }
  },

and from the org.openhab.core.thing.link.ItemChannelLink.json file

  "AlarmKeypadMYLOCATION_KeypadCommand -\u003e alarmdecoder:keypad:5dfe6e907c:84e89ededd:command": {
    "class": "org.openhab.core.thing.link.ItemChannelLink",
    "value": {
      "channelUID": {
        "segments": [
          "alarmdecoder",
          "keypad",
          "5dfe6e907c",
          "84e89ededd",
          "command"
        ],
        "uid": "alarmdecoder:keypad:5dfe6e907c:84e89ededd:command"
      },
      "configuration": {
        "properties": {}
      },
      "itemName": "AlarmKeypadMYLOCATION_KeypadCommand"
    }
  },
  "AlarmKeypadMYLOCATION_KeypadMessage -\u003e alarmdecoder:keypad:5dfe6e907c:84e89ededd:text": {
    "class": "org.openhab.core.thing.link.ItemChannelLink",
    "value": {
      "channelUID": {
        "segments": [
          "alarmdecoder",
          "keypad",
          "5dfe6e907c",
          "84e89ededd",
          "text"
        ],
        "uid": "alarmdecoder:keypad:5dfe6e907c:84e89ededd:text"
      },
      "configuration": {
        "properties": {}
      },
      "itemName": "AlarmKeypadMYLOCATION_KeypadMessage"
    }
  },

All the code was generated bu the GUI/web interface, not hand-coded
Looking at the thing file, should the line

"kind": "STATE",

refer to something else?
Thank you.

This is solved.

Short story, I had gotten hung up on the fact that I expected to be able to enter text when the UI showed the item in the model view, and it only shows NULL and is not editable. Did not need to change the thing or item or link. See my post at AlarmDecoder Help (AD2PI) - #42 by mgchristensen for item screenshot and note concerning Expiration Timer added via metadata.