How do I disable question submissions on the /app/Ask page in Customer Portal?

Environment:

Customer Portal (CP) - Enduser pages
Oracle B2C Service

Issue:

I do not want to allow customers to submit incidents via this page.

Resolution:

Disabling the /app/ask page can be done by replacing the following file in Customer Portal:

ask.php

Answer ID 4637: Folders in Customer Portal

You may replace the html in that page with any message you like, but we have provided a sample template page to help get you started in the attached file "ask.php".  Depending on how much your site has been customized, you may need to modify the code on this page to suit your site, namely the template="standard.php" part and the div tag id attributes.  Also, if your site has been customized to have multiple ask pages, e.g. ask2.php, then you will need to make the same changes to each one.

Replacing the ask.php page is a five step process.

1. Log into WebDAV for the interface you wish to modify.  If you do not know how to log into WebDAV, please consult the following answer:
   Answer ID 2600: Configuring WebDAV connection to access the Customer Portal Navigate to this directory:
   /dav/euf/development/views/pages/
2. Replace the existing ask.php page with the one of your choosing (such as the attached template page).  It is best to backup the existing ask.php file somewhere one your own computer instead of on the server so that end-users cannot access the backup page and still submit a question.
3. Test the look and feel in development mode before your end-users see any changes.  The URL for this is /ci/admin/.  
4. Once you are satisfied with the look and feel, you can deploy the development folder to your customer facing production folder so that the new changes become visible to your customers.  If you do not know how to deploy Customer Portal, please consult the following answer.
   Answer ID 2849: Deploying Customer Portal pages

Another easy approach to disabling the ask page is backing up the file and deleting it from customer portal all together. Once the file is removed from the development environment, you will need to perform a stage and promote as well to remove it from these environments.