Owner approval is needed for transferFrom
function. Because with this function you are allowing third-party account transfer from your account to someone.
Let's say I want to transfer token from your account to my brother's account. To be able to do this, you have to give permission first and this permission is stored in a mapping. If you allow me to transfer a specific amount from your account, you first add my account into this mapping
// my address is allowed to transfer token to other address
mapping(address=>mapping(address=>uint256)) allowed;
with approve
function.
function approve(address _spender, uint256 _value) public override returns (bool success){
// you are calling this. so you are the msg.sender
// first we are checking if you have enough token to be transferred
require(tokenBalances[msg.sender]>=_value,"insufficient token");
// then you register my account with the _value
allowed[msg.sender][_spender]=_value;
// if in the future there is a dispute, we can check those events for verification
emit Approval(msg.sender,_spender,_value);
return true;
}
This where owner approval used. If you want to transfer money from your account to another account, you use the transfer
function:
function transfer(address _to, uint256 _value) public override returns (bool success){
require(tokenBalances[msg.sender]>=_value,"you do not have enough tokens");
tokenBalances[msg.sender]-=_value;
tokenBalances[_to]+=_value;
emit Transfer(msg.sender,_to,_value);
return true;
}