Appendix and cross-referencing

Question

first my code: (I added all packages I'm currently using)

\documentclass[12pt,a4paper,notitlepage]{report}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage{amsfonts}
\usepackage{amssymb}
\usepackage[round]{natbib}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage{pdfpages}
\usepackage[toc,page]{appendix}
\usepackage[onehalfspacing]{setspace}
\usepackage{hyperref}
\usepackage{chngcntr}
\usepackage{tabularx}
\usepackage{adjustbox}
\usepackage{array,booktabs}
\usepackage{multirow}
\usepackage{bm}
\usepackage{setspace}
\usepackage{threeparttable}


\begin{document}

\chapter{Text}

Here is a chapter with text where I want to make a reference to Appendix A. Lets try the reference: Here a reference to Appendix \ref{appendix:a} and a reference to Appendix B namely Appendix \ref{appendix:b}.

\appendix
\chapter{Appendix A}
\label{appendix:a}
This is the content of the appendix A. 
\chapter*{Appendix B}
\label{appendix:b}
This is the content of the appendix B.

\end{document}

This example has a perfectly fine reference for Appendix A. However, the title for Appendix A is done twice. Once due to \chapter{Appendix A} and once as the \chapter{Appendix A} is the first entry for the appendix. Furthermore, \appendix changes numerical references to alpha references.

Obviously adding the * for the appendix B removes the additional title, hence makes propper referencing impossible.

Anyone got an idea on how to handle this?

I already tried \begin{appendices} ... \end{appendices}, however, for that version the numbering of the appendix chapters were numerical and not "A, B etc "

EDIT: I would prefer the table of content not including the appendix chapters and within the appendices only the Chapter names. However, as mentioned before using \chapter*{chapter_name} makes the reference unusuable.

\documentclass[12pt,a4paper,notitlepage]{report}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage{amsfonts}
\usepackage{amssymb}
\usepackage[round]{natbib}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage{pdfpages}
\usepackage[toc,page]{appendix}
\usepackage[onehalfspacing]{setspace}
\usepackage{hyperref}
\usepackage{chngcntr}
\usepackage{tabularx}
\usepackage{adjustbox}
\usepackage{array,booktabs}
\usepackage{multirow}
\usepackage{bm}
\usepackage{setspace}
\usepackage{threeparttable}


\begin{document}
 \tableofcontents
\chapter{Text}

Here is a chapter with text where I want to make a reference to Appendix A. Lets try the reference: Here a reference to Appendix \ref{appendix:a} and a reference to Appendix B namely Appendix \ref{appendix:b}.

 \begin{appendices}
 \chapter*{Appendix A}
 \label{appendix:a}
 This is the content of the appendix A. 
 \chapter*{Appendix B}
 \label{appendix:b}
 This is the content of the appendix B.
\end{appendices}
\end{document}

Answer 1

Doubling Appendix A etc. is due to wrong usage of \chapter{Appendix A} -- but it can be removed (but why naming it this way, if it could be done automatically?) -- anyway, I removed the \chaptername header line of the the chapter title by redefinition of \@makechapterhead.

The removal of appendix chapters from the ToC can be achieved by using \addtocontents{toc}{\protect\setcounter{tocdepth}{-2}} after the appendices environment has started.

\documentclass[12pt,a4paper,notitlepage]{report}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage{amsfonts}
\usepackage{amssymb}
\usepackage[round]{natbib}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage{pdfpages}
\usepackage[toc,page]{appendix}
\usepackage[onehalfspacing]{setspace}
\usepackage{chngcntr}
\usepackage{tabularx}
\usepackage{adjustbox}
\usepackage{array,booktabs}
\usepackage{multirow}
\usepackage{bm}
\usepackage{setspace}
\usepackage{threeparttable}

\usepackage{xpatch}
\usepackage{hyperref}

\makeatletter
\AtBeginEnvironment{appendices}{%
  % Removing the entries to the toc within appendices environment with \setcounter{tocdepth}{-2}
  \addtocontents{toc}{\protect\setcounter{tocdepth}{-2}}
  % Removing the \chaptername header line in the chapter head command \@makechapterhead
  \def\@makechapterhead#1{%
    \vspace*{50\p@}%
    {\parindent \z@ \raggedright \normalfont
      % \ifnum \c@secnumdepth >\m@ne
      % \huge\bfseries \@chapapp\space \thechapter
      % \par\nobreak
      % \vskip 20\p@
      % \fi
    \interlinepenalty\@M
    \Huge \bfseries #1\par\nobreak
    \vskip 40\p@
  }}
}
\makeatother

\begin{document}
 \tableofcontents
\chapter{Text}

Here is a chapter with text where I want to make a reference to Appendix A. Lets try the reference: Here a reference to Appendix \ref{appendix:a} and a reference to Appendix B namely Appendix \ref{appendix:b}.




\begin{appendices}
  \chapter{Appendix A}
  \label{appendix:a}
  This is the content of the appendix A. 
  \chapter{Appendix B}
  \label{appendix:b}
  This is the content of the appendix B.
\end{appendices}
\end{document}