I was able to get gRPC working based on the instructions from the github wiki
GitHub - ni/grpc-device: gRPC server providing remote access to NI device driver APIs.
https://github.com/ni/grpc-device/wiki/Creating-a-gRPC-Client#creating-a-python-grpc-client
The gRPC Getting Started video from NI must have been created using outdated instructions. The commands are wrong and/or missing important parts. If you try to run the latest Client/Server build based on the instructions from this video it won't work.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nI6i1hjKUt8
The gRPC Client and Server are successfully running on the Windows Host PC (Client) and NI Linux RT controller (Server). So gRPC seems to be the solution to the no soft front panel issue.
Sidebar:
I still don't understand why the Soft Front Panels would not work. I have read through other forum posts with people trying to do the same as myself with the IVI drivers and remote resources.
If the NI-IVI drivers are using NI I/O drivers (i.e. NI-VISA) under the hood, the drivers should accept the remote NI-VISA syntax.
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Remote NI-VISA
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visa://host address[:server port]/remote resource
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https://www.ni.com/docs/en-US/bundle/ni-visa/page/visa-resource-syntax-and-examples.html
If the NI-IVI drivers are using IVI I/O drivers (i.e. VISA) then the drivers were likely developed to follow the syntax specified in section 4.3.1.1 of the IVI VISA Library spec.
https://www.ivifoundation.org/downloads/Architecture%20Specifications/vpp43_2022-05-19.pdf
This nuance is very confusing to the end user. As can observed in several posts on this forum.
If NI is following the IVI VISA specification, then NI should also consider following the IVI specification for Soft Front Panels.
https://www.ivifoundation.org/docs/vpp7.pdf
That would be very helpful to the end user. Not having soft front panel support, NI seems to be missing the spirit of and reason why the IVI Soft Front Panel specification was developed in the first place.
