Wix Menu Shortcut Creation - wix

Question

I see two different ways how shortcuts in the start menu are being created in Wix (3.8.):
1)
<Directory Id="ProgramMenuFolder" Name="Programs">
<Directory Id="CompanyMenuFolder" Name="Company">
<Component Id="MenuFolderComponent" Guid="*">
<RegistryValue Root="HKCU" Key="Software\Company\Product"
Name="MenuFolderComponent" Type="integer"
Value="1" KeyPath="yes"/>
</Component>
</Directory>
</Directory>
<!-- [...] -->
<Component Id='ManualComponent' Guid='*'>
<File Id='Manual' Name="Product.pdf" DiskId='1'
Source="Product.pdf" KeyPath="yes" >
<Shortcut Id="ManualStartmenuShortcut"
Directory="CompanyMenuFolder" Name="Product Manual" />
</File>
</Component>
2)
<Directory Id="ProgramMenuFolder" Name="Programs">
<Directory Id="CompanyMenuFolder" Name="Company">
<Component Id="MenuFolderComponent" Guid="*">
<Shortcut Id="StartmenuShortcut" Directory="CompanyMenuFolder"
Name="Product" WorkingDirectory='INSTALLDIR'
Icon="Product.exe" IconIndex="0"
Target="[#ProductExecutable]" />
<RemoveFolder Id='CompanyMenuFolder' On='uninstall' />
<RegistryValue Root="HKCU" Key="Software\Company\Product"
Name="MenuFolderComponent" Type="integer" Value="1"
KeyPath="yes"/>
</Component>
</Directory>
</Directory>
Is any of these methods preferred and if so, why?
Thanks :)

Answer 1

A shortcut can be "advertised" - pointing to a component contained in a product, or "non-advertised" - pointing to a specific target path (Shortcut element documentation).
Option 2) is setting the target field of the non-advertised shortcut to Target="[#ProductExecutable]" - which is a property identifier that seems to point to the projects main executable in this case. It can point to a folder and an URL too as examplified here.
Option 1) also creates a non-advertised shortcut since the advertised attribute defaults to no, but here you have left out the Target field and it hence defaults to its parent component's key file.
In essence flexibility is allowed to account for the creation of different types of shortcuts and to allow for the concept of advertised and non-advertised shortcuts.