Rails Routes not conforming to expected controller action - ruby-on-rails-4

Question

I've spent several hours trying to understand why my Rails 4 app doesn't seem to want to route to the expected controller action.
In summary: every single action that I attempt in the browser URL seems to go to the index view, even though my routes appear to be correct. I've attempted to restart the server, etc hoping that might fix it, but right now I'm completely lost.
For example, if I try to access the URL at localhost:3000/leads#new I get the following error message:
Missing template leads/index, application/index with {:locale=>[:en], :formats=>[:html], :handlers=>[:erb, :builder, :raw, :ruby, :jbuilder, :coffee]}. Searched in: * "/Users/me/Sites/azimuth/app/views"
If I add a template for index.html.erb to the app/views/leads folder, then I don't get the error message - however every single path goes to that same index view - leads#show, leads#edit, etc - all of them.
Here is the routes.rb:
Azimuth::Application.routes.draw do
# get 'leads', to: 'leads#new'
resources :applicants
resources :contacts
resources :leads
PagesController.action_methods.each do |action|
get "/#{action}", to: "pages##{action}", as: "#{action}_page"
end
root "pages#home"
end
note that the commented line - get 'leads', to: 'leads#new' - seems to be the only way to properly get the routing to work. Using resources :leads (which I understand is best practice?) is giving me fits.
Here's the leads_controller.rb:
class LeadsController < ApplicationController
def new
#lead = Lead.new
end
def create
#lead = Lead.new(lead_params)
if #lead.save
flash[:success] = "Thank you for reaching out! We'll be in touch soon."
redirect_to 'home'
else
render 'new'
end
end
def index
#lead = Lead.all
end
private
def lead_params
params.require(:lead).permit(:first_name, :last_name, :subject, :message)
end
end
Rake routes - appears that things should work fine. (Note this is just showing the routes relevant to the Leads object).
Prefix Verb URI Pattern Controller#Action
leads GET /leads(.:format) leads#index
POST /leads(.:format) leads#create
new_lead GET /leads/new(.:format) leads#new
edit_lead GET /leads/:id/edit(.:format) leads#edit
lead GET /leads/:id(.:format) leads#show
PATCH /leads/:id(.:format) leads#update
PUT /leads/:id(.:format) leads#update
DELETE /leads/:id(.:format) leads#destroy
I'm very confused, can't seem to track down what's going on, and would appreciate any help!

Answer 1

Correct me if you are wrong, but I think you are trying to access the wrong URL. You said you were visiting localhost:3000/leads#new in your browser. The correct URL for that route would be localhost:3000/leads/new
When are you are defining routes in your config/routes.rb file, the #'s are used to let rails know that you are specifying that a method of one of your controllers should respond to this URL. The actual URL's do not contain #'s (typically speaking).