How to call a vue.js function on page load

you can also do this using mounted

https://v2.vuejs.org/v2/guide/migration.html#ready-replaced

....
methods:{
    getUnits: function() {...}
},
mounted: function(){
    this.$nextTick(this.getUnits)
}
....

Beware that when the mounted event is fired on a component, not all Vue components are replaced yet, so the DOM may not be final yet.

To really simulate the DOM onload event, i.e. to fire after the DOM is ready but before the page is drawn, use vm.$nextTick from inside mounted:

mounted: function () {
  this.$nextTick(function () {
    // Will be executed when the DOM is ready
  })
}

You need to do something like this (If you want to call the method on page load):

new Vue({
    // ...
    methods:{
        getUnits: function() {...}
    },
    created: function(){
        this.getUnits()
    }
});

You can call this function in beforeMount section of a Vue component: like following:

 ....
 methods:{
     getUnits: function() {...}
 },
 beforeMount(){
    this.getUnits()
 },
 ......

Working fiddle: https://jsfiddle.net/q83bnLrx/1/

There are different lifecycle hooks Vue provide:

I have listed few are :

  1. beforeCreate: Called synchronously after the instance has just been initialized, before data observation and event/watcher setup.
  2. created: Called synchronously after the instance is created. At this stage, the instance has finished processing the options which means the following have been set up: data observation, computed properties, methods, watch/event callbacks. However, the mounting phase has not been started, and the $el property will not be available yet.
  3. beforeMount: Called right before the mounting begins: the render function is about to be called for the first time.
  4. mounted: Called after the instance has just been mounted where el is replaced by the newly created vm.$el.
  5. beforeUpdate: Called when the data changes, before the virtual DOM is re-rendered and patched.
  6. updated: Called after a data change causes the virtual DOM to be re-rendered and patched.

You can have a look at complete list here.

You can choose which hook is most suitable to you and hook it to call you function like the sample code provided above.